[CPEO-BIF] Northstar TCE, Cambridge, Ontario (and a planned school)

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

I keep running into sites like this, where schools are being built on or 
near shallow plumes of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), with no 
reported soil gas testing. That's no good enough. Also, the installation 
of a vapor barrier is necessary, but not sufficient for new schools. I 
believe passive subslab depressurization should be required, with an 
option of going active (installing and turning on blowers) if VOCs are 
detected indoors. Indoor air sampling should occur after construction, 
before occupancy, and should continue periodically.

This case is in Canada, but the same thing is happening in the States.

Lenny




Positive signs in factory cleanup
Water pumps out clean at Northstar plant

Kevin Swayze
WATERLOO RECORD (ONT)
May 28, 2009

CAMBRIDGE

Water is coming out clean after a high-tech groundwater chemical cleanup 
started four weeks ago around the contaminated Northstar Aerospace 
factory in Preston.

....

Plans for a new Ryerson Public School on the fringe of the contamination 
area were on display, as was a new environmental study that found no 
problems replacing a 100-student school with one for 300. Work is 
expected to start in the summer, with completion by September 2011.

....

At the west side, TCE was found at 16 parts per billion in the groundwater.

Levels dropped to trace amounts at the east side of the site.

The TCE standard for drinking water is five parts per billion, Smith said.

The report's only safety suggestion was already in the school's design: 
a vapour barrier under the school's concrete slab to stop the remote 
chance of TCE vapour entering from the soil, he said.

....

For the entire article, see
http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/542953

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org




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