Health authorities in South Australia are considering expanding a scheme to tally the amount of lead polluting public areas and the environment.

SA Health’s Targeted Lead Abatement Scheme recently polled over 350 public sites at Port Pirie, at some spots finding lead levels in the soil well above the national guidelines of 600 parts per million. Now an environmental scientist says the program should be taken to backyards and gardens.

Professor of Environmental Science at Macquarie University, Mark Taylor says despite many sites registering below dangerous levels there is cause for concern and more investigation.

“I think it's pretty clear that some of those concentrations in the soil do warrant full-scale removal of that soil... they need to be cleaned up to stop the legacy pollution,” he said.

Prof Taylor says transformation of the nearby smelting plant would help reduce further build-ups of lead.

Port Pirie Mayor Brenton Vanstone says he is not too worried, but efforts are being made: “It didn't indicate any new risks and I thought the report was better than what I expected... Council with our new waste segregation facility is getting a lot more green waste there, so we will go to a greater mulching program.”