JOHNSON COUNTY — More than a dozen Johnson County homeowners will soon know if toxic chemicals from an old contaminated site are leaching into or near their homes.

A team of out of state environmentalists are in town to help concerned parents find out what could be making their kids sick.

13 Investigates first uncovered the high rate of childhood cancer in Franklin.

Now for the first time homeowners are getting soil and vapor testing.

Digging into the soil could provide some answers for the Phillips family and 22 other families living in Franklin.

On Wednesday, environmentalists were scheduled to conduct soil and vapor intrusion testing at more than a dozen homes.

“We’re going to stick a probe in the soil and see if we can detect an volatile organic contaminants which could be indicative of a ground water plume,” explained Shannon Lisa, program director at Edison Wetlands Association, the New Jersey not-for-profit sponsoring Wednesday’s testing.

Edison Wetlands is known for getting contaminated sites cleaned up in its home state, and now hopes to do the same in Franklin, after hearing about high pediatric cancer rates in the area. The latest National Cancer Institute data shows the cancer incidence rate for children under 20 in Johnson County is at 22.2. That is higher than the state average of 17.3.

In 2015, 13 Investigates first discovered nearly half of the children diagnosed with cancer since 2009 in Johnson County lived or spent significant time in Franklin.

Source: WTHR