The Environmental Protection Agency is fining Washington University for failing to tell tenants about lead paint hazards in some of its married student housing units. The violation will cost the university close to $28,000.
The civil settlement involves three rental apartments northeast of Washington University’s Danforth campus.
The consent agreement says that between 2008 and 2010, the university failed to tell student tenants about previous citations for lead paint violations from the City of St. Louis Health Department.
The university also denied the presence of lead paint in rental leases.
Washington University has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $2,778, and spend at least $24,998 to replace old apartment windows.
Exposure to lead can cause serious health problems in children, including learning disabilities and brain damage.
The federal government banned lead-based paint from housing in 1978.