Explore how science, math and technology work in your world. 
eCYBERMISSION is a free, web-based science, math and technology 
competition for students in grades six through nine. The competition 
promotes self-discovery and enables all students to recognize the 
real-life applications of science, math and technology.

Students compete for regional and national awards while working to 
solve problems in their community.

What problem is your team trying to solve?

Answer: Lead wheel weights are used to balance tires on vehicles with very little thought about the metal used to make the weight. Lead is one of the top three hazardous waste materials listed by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/cxcx3.html). Lead adversely affects the environment, animals, and humans. The US EPA estimates that 10% of lead wheel weights fall off during normal driving conditions and remain on the road (U.S. Geological Survey. USA Today, August 28, 2008). They remain in the environment and are exposed to all types of environmental conditions including salt and sand during the winter months. Hazardous lead compounds may then be distributed in the environment through run-off and other mechanisms. We recommend people change to a non-lead alternative weight. This change will reduce lead from our streets.

Why did your team choose this problem?

Answer: People seemed to have minimal awareness that lead was used in wheel weights. This fact went under the radar of even the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) (e-mail communication on 9/8/2008). Lead wheel weights may form the same deadly compounds that are contained in lead paint. We wondered why another substance wasn’t used in place of lead in wheel weights. We know how potentially harmful exposure to lead can be, and we saw an article from California about phasing out lead wheel weights. We thought that we could use California as an example to help our community and state achieve the goal of phasing out the lead in wheel weights.

Who in your community will benefit from your team's efforts to solve this problem?

Answer: Everyone in our community will benefit from our efforts to phase out lead in wheel weights. Children and wildlife will especially benefit from our efforts because exposure to lead detrimentally affects the development of the brain. Adults who work in tire service centers will benefit because they will have less occupational exposure to lead.

What research (e.g., Internet, library, interviews) have you done and what have you learned so far?

Answer: Wheel weights are metal clips that attach to vehicle tires to balance the tires. Since the 1930’s, lead has been the preferred substance for wheel weights. Lead affects the nervous, circulatory and reproductive systems (www.atsdr.cdc.gov). People who work with large amounts of lead are 3.4 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease (www.ehponline.org). Lead can decrease a person’s IQ by up to 3 points for every microgram per deciliter of blood (www.mass.gov). Lead accumulates in soil and sediment, which retards growth and reproduction rates of plants and animals. Lead bioaccumulates in fish, which can work its way up the food chain. We read an article by Dr. Robert Root: “Lead Loading of Urban Streets by Motor Vehicle Wheel Weights”. This article and our correspondence with Dr. Root helped us understand the significant problem that lead wheel weights pose to the environment. Dr Root’s study shows how easily discarded wheel weights abrade and disintegrate into particles or dust that can be then picked up by shoes and tires or be washed away by rain into sewers. Lead particles picked up by shoes, tires, etc can then be carried back into the garage and homes. This led us to wonder why so little was being done to regulate the entry of lead into the environment as a result of lead wheel weights. Through our communications with Linda Barr, US EPA, we learned that the EPA launched the National Lead-Free Wheel Weight Initiative (NLFWWI) on Aug. 29, 2008. The purpose of the NLFWWI is to encourage the voluntary transition away from the use of lead in wheel weights. We learned that there are alternative metals in place of lead that can be used for wheel weights. Alternatives include steel, copper, and aluminum. We also contacted Theresa Stiner, Iowa DNR, to inquire about current regulations that exist regarding lead wheel weights. We learned there are no specific regulations in Iowa. She stated the IDNR is not planning on conducting any studies. According to a survey conducted by the Ecology Center in 2006, half of all new vehicles sold in the US have lead-free wheel weights. Tires only remain balanced for about a year, but this can vary drastically due to driving conditions. Once out of balance, tires need to be taken to a tire service center to be rebalanced. Most tires are balanced with lead wheel weights because there are no state regulations on the use of lead to balance tires. In 2005, the European Union banned the sale and use of lead wheel weights. Through our research we learned that about 65,000 tons of lead wheel weights are used in the United States. (Green Living Tips, 8/24/08). Ten percent of these wheel weights fall off resulting in at least 6,500 tons of lead being deposited on U.S. roadways from lead wheel weights (www.leadfreewheels.com). When visiting automotive tire service centers we learned that workers are exposed to lead while installing wheel weights. We also learned that lead wheel weights are one of the last unregulated sources of lead in the United States. We looked into the California policy that is banning the sale and use of lead in wheel weights. We corresponded with Charles Margulis, Center for Environmental Health (CEH), about the CEH’s lawsuit against lead wheel weight manufacturers and distributors. As a result of the CEH lawsuit, California implemented a policy that will require companies to stop producing and using lead wheel weights by the end of 2009. This act prevents 500,000 pounds of lead from entering the environment in California each year (Green Living Tips, 8/24/08). We called organizations to become more knowledgeable about how to conduct lead testing. Dr. Michael Wichman from the University Hygienic Laboratory (UHL) invited us to tour the UHL lab in Ankeny, IA. We visited on Nov. 14, 2008 to learn how they test for various hazardous materials.

State your hypothesis.

Answer: If the public becomes more aware of the environmental dangers of lead wheel weights and is given alternative wheel balancing choices then there will be a decrease in lead entering the environment.

If your hypothesis turns out to be correct, how do you think it might affect your community?

Answer: In our town there are approximately 1,700 cars and trucks. Each vehicle has about 127 grams (4.5 ounces) of lead wheel weights on their tires. Approximately 10% of lead wheel weights fall off during normal driving conditions (U.S. Geological Survey. USA Today, August 28, 2008), resulting in about 2.2 kg (5 pounds) of lead being deposited on the streets. Groundwater and surface water may be contaminated through street water runoff and children may come in contact with lead carried into homes on shoes and tires. Therefore, if our hypothesis is correct, our community will be safer because there will be less potential for lead contamination of our groundwater. There will also be decreased risk for lead poisoning of our citizens through contact with lead wheel weights.

Describe the experiments your team used to test your hypothesis.

Answer: To further our understanding of how lead may be released into the environment, we designed experiments to determine lead solubility under typical Iowa road conditions. We hypothesized that when lead wheel weights fall off vehicles and are exposed to deicing salt and acid rain conditions, the wheel weights may form soluble lead compounds. These compounds may enter the environment as a result of street runoff. Also, if a lead wheel weight is deposited in a landfill, lead can form soluble lead compounds, which may enter groundwater and surface water through leaching. To test our hypothesis that lead compounds could potentially enter our environment from accidental deposition of lead wheel weights on our roads we experimented with lead wheel weights in different solutions. We exposed lead wheel weights to 500 mL solutions of distilled water, rainwater, dilute vinegar, and salt-sand mixture. We used rainwater to test the effect of precipitation on lead wheel weights. We used a dilute 0.5% acetic acid vinegar solution to simulate the effect that landfill conditions could have on lead wheel weights. We used the salt-sand obtained from our county road department and added rainwater to make a solution that simulated the corrosive winter road conditions present after deicing salt and sand is added to Iowa roadways. To conduct the initial tests we placed 3 each of the four following solutions in 12 plastic bottles provided by the UHL: 500 mL solutions of 1) distilled water, 2) rainwater (5.5 pH), 3) dilute vinegar solution (2.9-3.0 pH), and 4) rainwater with 43 grams of salt/sand mixture (5.5 pH). Controls of each solution were placed in bottles without any wheel weights. Separate 14 gram lead wheel weights were added to bottles containing four of the above solutions. Similarly, separate 7 g steel weights were placed in 4 additional bottles containing the solutions. The bottles were placed on a “shaker” that rotated for 18 hours according to the EPA Toxic Characteristic Leaching Protocol Test (TCLP) (http://www.ehso.com/cssepa/TCLP.htm). The TCLP procedure is designed to determine the potential mobility of hazardous contaminants. Samples from the 12 bottles were then tested for the amount of lead present in each solution. After these preliminary tests, we conferred with Dr. Michael Wichman of the UHL to replicate our tests and quantify the results. This was done because we did not have the equipment to measure the amount of lead or the means to properly dispose of the hazardous solutions. The solutions tested were the same as in our initial testing. To test the effects of our educational project with the public and tire service center owners, we conducted surveys of 109 families and 21 tire service centers. This supports our hypothesis that educating the public and tire service center owners will result in fewer lead wheel weights being used on vehicles. We developed an educational brochure and fact sheet about lead wheel weights. Our brochure was sent home to parents of middle school students. Four weeks later we re-surveyed the families. We visited tire service centers and provided them with the brochure, fact sheet, and safety posters. After completing our educational efforts we administered the post survey.

Present the results of your experiment(s). PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Answer: Our initial tests showed that lead was present in three solutions: rainwater with a lead wheel weight, vinegar with a lead wheel weight and salt/sand with a lead wheel weight. The lead indicator test kits we used only confirmed the presence of lead. The testing at the UHL would measure the amount of lead in the solutions. All of the control solutions, the distilled water with a lead wheel weight and the experimental solutions with steel wheel weights did not contain detectable levels of lead in the initial testing. See data table I. The UHL test results indicated that significant amounts of soluble lead were present in all of the non control wheel weight lead experimental solutions. Dr. Wichman stated, “Based on these results one can determine that various conditions could result in leaching of lead from wheel weights. How that models into contamination of groundwater and/or surface water requires more research.” Lead concentrate data tables were constructed based on the total lead concentrate measured by Dr. Wichman from the wheel weight lead and non lead testing solutions. We hypothesized that this experimental information could help us determine the solubility of lead under various conditions and gain a basic understanding of how hazardous lead could potentially be released into the environment. With the exception of the distilled water, the control solutions had trace amounts of lead present, less than 0.001 mg/L (distilled water) to 0.022 mg/L (Dilute Vinegar solution). The solutions with the steel wheel weights contained lead ranging from 0.003 mg/L (Salt/Sand/Rainwater) to 0.05 mg/L (Distilled Water). The solutions containing the lead wheel weight registered lead ranging from 0.189 mg/L (Rainwater) to 385 mg/L (Dilute Vinegar Solution). See data table II. All results listed in the data above were rotated on a table for 18 hours according to the EPA Toxic Characteristic Leaching Protocol Test (TCLP). The EPA mandates TCLP testing protocol and analysis to simulate landfill conditions and is designed to determine which specific contaminants, such as lead, identified by the US EPA, could potentially leach from landfills. The TCLP procedure is also designed to determine the mobility potential of hazardous heavy metals, such as lead, present in solid and liquid wastes. The analyses completed by the UHL of our experimental lead wheel weight testing solutions lead us to believe that significant measurable amounts of soluble lead was present in all of the non-control and test solutions listed above. In particular, we would like to note that lead wheel weight test 1-10, simulating a typical EPA defined TCLP landfill leachate condition, yielded an astonishing 385 mg/Liter (385 PPM or 385,000 PPB) lead concentration in solution. During the UHL testing 18 hour rotation time frame this particular 14 gram lead wheel weight dissolved more than 0.3 gram weight into a TCLP formulated dilute acetic acid solution. Surveys were given to families in our town before and after our educational piece. Results of the surveys showed a 21% increase in knowledge about what a wheel weight is. There was also a 21% increase in identification of lead as the metal in wheel weights. A 27% increase was found in understanding the potential negative environmental impact of lead wheel weights. An unexpected result was the slight decrease in the percentage of people willing to pay more for an environmentally friendly wheel weight. This may have been caused by current poor economic conditions. People didn’t know how much more steel wheel weights would cost them. See data table III. After educational efforts at tire service centers, there was a 33% increase in knowledge of non-lead balancing alternatives. There was a 52% increase in knowledge of environmental issues associated with lead wheel weights by tire service center staff. There was also an increase in the number of centers that would be willing to voluntarily switch to non-lead wheel weights. See data table IV.

What happened during your experiments that you didn't expect?

Answer: During the initial testing, we were surprised that the dilute vinegar/lead wheel weight solution immediately turned black when the indicator that was used to identify the presence of lead was added to the solution. This immediate change indicated a high level of lead. We didn’t think it would be that high. We did not expect the control samples containing no lead wheel weights or the samples with steel wheel weights to have any measurable lead concentration, even at low levels. When we received the test results from the UHL, we were surprised yet again at the extremely high level of lead in the dilute vinegar solution. We were also surprised at the large number of tire service center technicians who did not know the dangers of lead in wheel weights. We saw people working in the tire service centers with black hands. We wondered if it was lead dust. We even saw someone eating with dirty hands after working with lead wheel weights. We were surprised that they weren’t worried about this. We also didn’t expect that we would find that so few tire facilities carried alternatives to lead wheel weights. In the survey of families we were very surprised that after our education there was a slight decrease in the percentage of people who said they were willing to pay more for an alternative wheel weight.

Based on your research and experiments, what did you learn?

Answer: We learned what wheel weights are and how they are used. We learned why lead is used for this purpose. We learned of the potential hazards lead poses to humans and the environment. We learned that people in our community had little awareness of possible dangers from lead wheel weights. From our research we learned that landfills contain acetic acid producing bacteria. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/landfill/html/ch2.html ) Our experiments suggest that the lead in wheel weights readily reacts with acetic acid present in our test solutions and the dilute acid present in rainwater (pH=5.5) to produce toxic highly mobile soluble lead compounds. (http://www.smartenergy4kids.org/lead.solubility.html) (http://www.silver-colloids.com/Tables/Solubility_Rules.html) Our lead wheel weight experiments results suggest that a very small amount of measurable lead (grams) can react under various environmental conditions to form water soluble lead compounds. If lead becomes mobile under natural environmental conditions then it could potentially enter the environment and our drinking water reserves through leaching and surface water runoff. Because the accidental deposition of unregulated lead wheel weights is occurring on our nation’s highways, we believe that environmental levels of lead could increase due to the formation of soluble lead compounds, This is important for everyone to know because discarded and road deposited lead wheel weights can end up in a landfill or are subject to acid rain, salt, sand and snow. As our UHL test results suggest, lead from wheel weights can potentially form soluble lead compounds that are carried off by street water runoff. We think that lead contamination of any kind should not be tolerated. We also learned that the tire service centers were willing to listen to our concerns and were open to the possibility of using non-lead wheel weights. However, the main area of concern for both consumers and tire service centers is the cost associated with making the change. We also were pleased to learn that our project has made an impact on our local government and State Representatives. It is exciting to know that because of our project and Environmental Summit three bills have been introduced in the Iowa State Legislature and that the City of West Branch has begun phasing out lead wheel weights on its fleet vehicles.

If more research/experimentation needs to be done, what are the next steps?

Answer: We recommend that the same testing protocol should be duplicated with very small particles of lead because according to Robert Root’s study “Lead Loading of Streets by Motor Vehicle Weights” lead wheel weights are ground into very small pieces when motor vehicles run over them. Dr. Root’s advise in his letter stated “as the size of the particle decreases the size of the surface area increases more than the volume of the lead particle such that smaller particles have a larger reactive surface than large particles.” He suggested that we should increase the surface area of the lead wheel weight by filing lead wheel weights with a mill file and using the filings in any future lead wheel weight solubility experiments. After the tests were completed, Dr. Wichman stated, “Based on these results one can determine that various conditions could result in leaching of lead from wheel weights. How that models into contamination of groundwater and/or surface water requires more research.” The lead wheel weight testing to determine the solubility of lead under various conditions is a logical step to enhance the understanding of how hazardous lead could be released into the environment. Further research is needed to show exactly which lead compounds were formed by the lead wheel weight in the various testing solutions. This would lead to greater understanding of how the lead in wheel weights contributes to environmental contamination. Further testing would be needed to prove if lead wheel weights deposited in landfills form the deadly compound lead acetate. More experiments could be done to verify how many lead wheel weights are actually deposited on Iowa roads. Is the number deposited the national average of 10% or more than that? It would also be interesting to do tests with a few cars to see how long the wheel weights actually stay in place. We could also gather salt/sand mixtures deposited in garages by our vehicles and test this mixture to determine if lead is present. Additional research could also be done to find out what other daily use items are contaminating the environment with lead.

Describe your solution and how it helps your community.

Answer: We have identified three keys to solving the lead wheel weight problem: 1) Educate the citizens, community leaders, and tire service owners about the hazards of lead in wheel weights and the alternative materials that can be used in wheel weights, 2) craft a bill to phase out the sale and installation of lead wheel weights, and 3) work with legislators, the IDNR, policy making and environmental committees to encourage them to support the bill to become law. Michael Green, Director of the Center for Environmental Health stated, “Wheel weights have been identified as the largest new route of lead releases into the environment. By moving the industry away from leaded wheel weights, we are helping to keep the lead out of our kids’ drinking water.” (www.ceh.org, August 20, 2008) If we don’t phase out the sale and use of lead in wheel weights, people and wildlife in our community will suffer from the health hazards caused by lead.

List all of the sources (web sites, books, magazines, community resources, experts) used to complete your Mission Folder.

Answer: Barr, Linda. Personal Interview. 8/29/08. Caravanos, J. Weiss, A. Blaise, M. and Rudolph Jaeger. “A survey of spatially distributed exterior dust lead loadings in New York City.” 2006. 14 Sept. 2008. http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17514925 “Chrysler, Wheel Weight makers Agree to Eliminate Lead.” 2008. Ecology Center. 1 Aug. 2008. http://www.ecocenter.org/press/releases/20080820.php “The EPA TCLP: Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure and Characteristic Wastes.” 2008. Environment, Health and Safety Online. 10 Nov. 2008. http://www.ehso.com/cssepa/TCLP.htm “EPA Test Method 1311 – TCLP.” 1992. Environmental Health & Safety Online. 10 Nov. 2008. http://www.ehso.com/cssepa/TCLP_from%20EHSOcom_Method_1311.pdf Gearhart, Jeff. Personal Interview. 1/11/09. Geissmar, Claus. “Beethoven Lead Poisoned by Danube Fish.” Daily Telegraph, Sydney Australia. 2/17/99. Rpt. in Lead Action News. Vol. 7(1). 1999. 1 Sept. 2008 http://www.lead.org.au/lanv7n1/L71-13.html Green, Michael. Personal Interview. 1/11/09. “Lead and Water.” Lenntech Water. 1 Sept. 2008 http://www.lenntech.com/elements-and-water/lead-and-water.htm “Lead Free Wheels: Safer Substitutes for Lead Wheel Weights.” The Ecology Center. 15 Aug. 2008 http://www.leadfreewheels.org/program.shtml “Lead in soil.” 2008. California Department of Education. 20 Aug. 2008. http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/hs/leadsoil.asp “Lead Poisoning: A Historical Perspective” 1985. U.S. EPA. 15 Aug. 2008 http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/perspect/lead.htm “Lead Shot and Sinkers: Weighty Implications for Fish and Wildlife Health”. U.S. Department of the Interior. 2008. U.S. Geological Survey. 15 Aug. 2008 http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1972 “Lead wheel weights.” 2008. Green living tips. 7 Sept. 2008 http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/289/Lead-wheel-weights.html Lee, Fred & Jones-Lee, A. “Lead as storm water runoff pollutant.” 5 Sept. 2008 http://www.calwater.ca.gov/Admin_Record/D-043751.pdf Margulis, Charles. Personal Interview. 1/15/09. Moore, Miles. “Industry’s still moving to get lead out of wheel weights.” From www.tirebusiness.com 10 Oct. 2008 http://www.leadfreewheels.org/release20080715.shtml “National Lead Free Wheel Weight Initiative. (NLFWWI)” 2009. U.S. EPA. 21 Sept. 2008 http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/hazard/wastemin/nlfwwi.htm “Residential Lead Hazard Standards.” 2009. U.S. EPA. 15 Aug. 2008. http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/leadhaz.htm Root, Robert. Personal Correspondence. 1/10/2009. Root, Robert. “Lead Loading of Urban Streets by Motor Vehicle Wheel Weights”. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2000. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. 10 Aug. 2008. http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2000/108p937-940root/abstract.html Stiner, Theresa. Personal Interview. 9/8/08. “TCLP – Questions and Answers.” HWF Notes. 1993. Gossman Consulting, Inc. 10 Nov. 2008. http://www.gcisolutions.com/HWFN0593.htm “Testing Your Home for Lead.” 2000. U.S. EPA. 27 Aug. 2008. http://epa.gov/lead/pubs/leadtest.pdf “Top 20 Hazardous Substances”. The Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, 9/11/07. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 10 Jan. 2009. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov#2B86B8 “Toxic Chemicals.” 2007. United Nations System-Wide Earthwatch. UNEP. 23 Sept. 2008. http://earthwatch.unep.net/toxicchem/heavymetals.php Toxics Use Reduction Institute Awards Seven Community Grants. 2006. Media Newswire. 27 Aug. 2008. http://media-newswire.com/release_1039432.html Ulrich, Bob. “Lead isn’t dead, but steel is the real deal.” The Ecology Center. 30 Aug. 2008. http://www.leadfreewheels.org/release20080715b.shtml “U.S. EPA honors Postal Service for pledging to remove nearly 8,000 pounds of lead from its vehicle fleet.” 2008. U.S. EPA. 15 Nov. 2008. http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/85F6DA001ABB40A8852575060082293F Wichman, Michael. Personal Interview. 11/14/08.

Describe what each team member did and why.

Answer: At the beginning of the project all of the team members did background research on wheel weights and lead. Andrea studied the alternatives to lead in wheel weights, Justin studied the history of wheel weights, Brennan studied the health effects of lead, and Jathan studied the environmental effects of lead. From this we learned our facts and it told us where to go in terms of the project. We started our project by going as a team to car dealers and tire service centers. Dust samples collected from tire service work trays tested positive for lead. On the car lots, we identified wheel weights and talked to the salespeople about our project. After learning the facts we split up to work on parts of the project. Andrea and Jathan worked on organizing the testing. Lead wheel weight testing kits and procedures were researched. Testing protocols were discussed and decided upon by all team members. Preliminary lead testing was conducted by all team members at Andrea’s home. The University of Iowa Hygienics Lab (UHL) was contacted by Andrea and Jathan. Jathan corresponded with Dr. Wichman concerning the wheel weight lead testing protocol. Justin and Brennan worked on organizing community education and legislative lobbying. Justin designed display posters and created them with the help of the team. Each team member arranged for team presentations within the community. Brennan and Justin created a brochure explaining why lead wheel weights should be phased out. All team members participated in the five Lead Wheel Weight Community Awareness presentations. Each member wrote letters to interested community members and state legislators. Jathan wrote a letter to Dr. Robert Root. All team members helped create surveys to find out what individuals and tire stores know about lead wheel weights. All team members distributed surveys and evaluated the responses. Brennan emailed and phoned legislators Kaufmann, Bolkcom, and Willems. Our school held an environmental summit for state legislators and West Branch leaders. Brennan made phone calls to local officials to get information about the number of vehicles in our community. Andrea gathered information on alternatives to give us the best recommendation for tire service stations. At the end the entire team worked together to develop answers to the questions.

How did your team work together (communication, scheduling, assignments)?

Answer: Our team worked together by holding meetings to identify and distribute tasks and developing timelines, emailing what we needed to get done, meeting with auto service centers, and presenting to community organizations. We communicated through email and at weekly meetings. Our regular meetings were important for distributing assignments, sharing information and scheduling the next team activities. All team members applied to be provided access to a common meeting place at our local recreation center and were assigned a team meeting room for the duration of the project. We also got together at school and worked on the project. We met 1-2 times each week for most of the project.  We divided the work and met to share our findings and make suggestions.  We worked together to answer the questions and put together the mission folder.

Who did your team contact for help?

Answer: While we were researching our project we contacted Linda Barr, Chief Waste Minimization Branch of the US EPA and Theresa Stiner of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to learn about current National and State regulations concerning lead wheel weights. We contacted Dr. Robert Root to get information about the study he conducted. Our teacher put us in touch with Dr. Michael Wichman of the University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory. We worked with Dr. Wichman to develop a lead solubility testing protocol and Dr. Wichman replicated our tests and quantified the data for us. We talked to Mayor Sandy Hatfield, Kyle Soukup-City Administrator, our School Superintendent Craig Artist, School Board President Mike Owen, and Chief Police Bloem and asked them to phase out the use of lead wheel weights on their fleet vehicles. During our Environmental Summit we conferred with Rep. Nate Willems and Rep. Jeff Kaufmann. We worked with them to craft a bill that will phase out lead wheel weights in Iowa. We contacted Charles Margulis of the Center for Environmental Health to get information about the phase out of lead wheel weights in California. We also contacted Jeff Gearhart of the Ecology Center about the work he is doing to phase out lead wheel weights in Michigan. Lastly we contacted tire service centers from the Iowa City/Coralville area. All of these professionals helped us with our project and allowed us to move our project forward.

Describe how your team has worked (or will work) to put your solution into place.

Answer: We are working toward making our solution a reality. We gave presentations to the City Council, the Community School District and other civic organizations. As a result, the city and school district have agreed to phase out lead wheel weights on all city and school district owned vehicles. Our town’s utility and water bills will contain a message recommending citizens request environmentally friendly steel wheel weights the next time they have their vehicle’s tires balanced. We have distributed our informational brochures to the middle school parents and have also provided information to the elementary and high school students’ parents. In addition, we have visited local tire service centers and supplied them with educational materials for their workers and their customers. We created a website www.leadzero.org to inform a larger population about the dangers of lead wheel weights. We participated in an Environmental Summit at our school on January 2, 2009 that was attended by five state legislators, the mayor, and a representative from the Iowa Department of Transportation. After hearing our presentation at the Summit, three bills were presented to the Iowa Legislature requiring phasing out the use of lead in wheel balancing. See attachment. On March 4, 2009 our team is scheduled to present information to legislators and environmental committees at the State Capitol about the hazards of lead wheel weights and to lobby for support to pass the bill initiated by Dead Weight team members that would ban the future sale of lead wheel weights in Iowa.