Families of MG High School students have received an Email from Superintendent Gerlach related to the issue of chemical vapors in the High School that developed last week. You can read the Email here, the Cap Times story about the situation here, and additional information can be found on the Klinke Cleaners website here.
In brief, the district was notified last week by the DNR that vapors from solvents that used to be used in the dry cleaning process have been detected in soil samples and may have been seeping into the high school from underground. As you may know Klinke Cleaners has operated a dry cleaning facility on the property adjacent to the high school for many years.
Air sampling was performed in the High School starting Wednesday, and the results reviewed on Saturday. Very low levels of chemical vapors were detected, with the highest levels found in the Auditorium. The highest levels detected, 10.7ppbv (parts per billion by volume) of PCE (tetracholorethylene) is about twice the DNR's recommended "Action limit" for indoor air. Lower levels were found in other locations, all below the action limits.
Much higher levels were found in the air samples taken from below the building's concrete slab.
In response, the Administration has taken steps to lower the levels of these solvent vapors, including caulking around the building and sealing drain vents, and increasing air exchange through the HVAC system. The district is also working with Klinke cleaners to install a system to "Depressurize" the area under the building foundation to prevent vapors from entering through the foundation.
I've looked at the literature related to PCE, and while not an expert, I am personally not concerned about health risks at the levels detected (although we definitely need to reduce or eliminate the exposure in the building). PCE is classified as a potential or probable (depending on which agency is doing the evaluation) human carcinogen, primarily due to experiments in rats and mice at higher levels of exposure. Occupational exposure limits are set at 100ppm (parts per million) by OSHA and 20 ppm by the European agency for 40 hours/week. The OSHA limit is 10,000 times higher than what was detected in the high school.
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(photo ©2008 Bruce Fritz)
About Me
- Peter Sobol
- My family moved to Monona in 2003 and have been happily ensconsed in the Frost Woods Neighborhood ever since. I have 2 kids who graduated from Mg. I have been serving on the school board since April of 2007. We moved back to the Midwest in 2002 after spending 10 years in California, where I was a Department Director for Maxtor, a Fortune 500 company. In truth we left California largely because of the school situation - chronically underfunded schools did not offer the kind of programs or opportunities we wanted for our children. We picked Monona because our thorough research showed that this was a place we would really like to educate our kids. Our experience has taught us to value the quality schools we have here in Monona, and the importance of careful stewardship to maintain community support for those schools.
5 comments:
Thanks. I hope that Klinke is paying for the work already done by the district. I also hope that Klinke will be paying for the removal of contimainted soil on their grounds and the HS.
You can bet-we would be paying if the district was endangering Klinkes.
Not to worry, I'm sure Cathy Stepp will be out to Klinke's soon to help guide them through the labyrinth of environmental regulations and help them chart a path to compliance.
If only they would have built the new high school out in Cottage Grove next to the Hydrite Chemical plant this would never have happened...
According to the Cap Times article, Klinke cleaners is paying for the testing and cleanup. In their press release Klinke promises: “to do everything in our power to address this situation and correct it as quickly as possible.”
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