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Trace levels of lead in wells worry shooting range neighbors

Custer range leadership claims lead reclamation efforts are exemplary

By Isaac Stone Simonelli Enterprise/Investigations Reporter

Low levels of lead found in well water is a growing safety worry for neighbors Greg Kendall and Jeff Creasey, who both live next to highly-used shooting range Custer’s Sportsmen Club.

They suspect trace amounts of the dangerous heavy metal that have shown in water quality tests are from bullets and fragments ricochetting from the shooting range onto their properties.

The two men told CDN they’re frustrated with management at the shooting range as usage has steadily grown. A CDN investigation shows hundreds of pieces of ammunition have landed on private properties bordering the range.

[ Read more: Neighbors of gun range fear ricochet bullets, lead contamination, ‘war zone’ noise ]

The amounts of lead are below the Environmental Protection Agency action level, which requires the person or entity responsible to take corrective action. 

However, Kendall and his wife have switched to drinking only bottled water after a well test result showed lead levels at 0.0024 milligrams per liter.

“There’s no safe level of lead,” said Christa Colouzis, a corrective action unit supervisor at the Department of Ecology. “Lead is not safe for you to consume at all. Period.”

Kendall explained that he worried that lead on his property not only poses a potential health threat but could impact the value of his property. He pointed out that if he ever tried to sell, he would be legally required to disclose that the property was contaminated. 

“Nobody told me when I bought this place there might be lead on it,” Kendall said. “I had this vision that all of the lead stays over there. Didn’t even dawn on me that it would be here until I started seeing it.”


The Sportsmen’s Club, a shooting range that provides an essential training facility for more than two dozen area law enforcement agencies, told Cascadia Daily News that it takes lead management seriously.

Todd Epps, the organization’s president, explained that staff regularly wipe down high-contact points with de-lead wipes and monitor the facility for potential contamination that could prove harmful to people. 

He also said the club has a robust lead reclamation effort, where berms are sifted annually on a rotating basis.

Sportsmen’s Club spokesperson Summer Jones told CDN that the facility’s well had never posted positive for lead. The shooting range declined to share its well test results or documents of the reclamation work. Ecology informed CDN on Tuesday, Jan. 28, it was meeting with the range this week along with Whatcom County Health and Community Services.

The EPA best management practices that guide state-level enforcement on shooting ranges require reclamation of lead “regularly.” While the term is intentionally vague to allow for variance based on use, Colouzis said that annually is the usual target.

This is a target Epps said his range hits.

“The relative risk of lead exposure to people in a well-managed facility is low,” according to the EPA’s guide.

When exposed to the elements, lead bullets and fragments that aren’t reclaimed will break down. How fast that happens and whether or not it contaminates groundwater depends on many factors, though high annual precipitation rates expedite the process.

Kendall and Creasey said the lead levels found in their wells haven’t been consistent potentially due to seasonal variation in the water table. Kendall’s most recent test, done late last year by a private company, found no lead.

Nonetheless, on Nov. 12, 2024, Kendall filed a complaint with the Washington State Department of Ecology. Water contamination is under the purview of the county health department, but hazardous waste concerns go to the Department of Ecology, Colouzis said.

Ecology’s Northwest region has a heavy workload: it is responsible for regulating more than 500 businesses with only about seven or eight hazardous waste inspectors, she explained.

Ecology has yet to visit Kendall’s property.

The story misstated the timeframe for the meeting between the Department of Ecology, WCHCS and the shooting range. This article was updated at 3:01 p.m. Jan 31. 2025 Cascadia Daily News regrets the error.

Isaac Stone Simonelli is CDN’s enterprise/investigations reporter; reach him at isaacsimonelli@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 127.

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