To provide a follow-up analysis of the initial health study completed by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health approximately four years ago, the study will consist of: documenting community concerns about health impacts possibly related to the Spring Valley FUDS, conducting open communication on project methods and findings in conjunction with the previous work completed, following-up on issues raised in the initial 2007 Scoping Study, and providing specific resources and education as needed to community members, groups and other interested parties. Solicitation for Follow-up on Spring Valley Health Study DC Office of Contracting & Procurement June 21, 2011 Amendment No. 1 June 27, 2011 Spring Valley residents are hoping a proposed health study will be able to offer more information about the health effects of World War I-era contamination in their community. If the District and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health successfully hammer out a contract, the school’s researchers will immediately begin an update on a 2007 study that found an elevated incidence of arsenic-related cancers and other illnesses in Spring Valley, according to Mary Fox, a lead researcher in the study ... The contamination occurred during World War I, when the U.S. Army used the American University campus to test chemical weapons, which it fired into the then-undeveloped woods that later became the Spring Valley community. Brady Holt Northwest Current July 13, 2011 (pg. 1)
Perchlorate source area characterization and deep well installation will tentatively begin in June 2011. The 15 new temporary wells on AU‟s campus will be installed between the location where the highest perchlorate levels in Spring Valley were detected, and an existing up gradient well with low perchlorate levels ... The groundwater sampling results taken from the new temporary wells and the geophysical survey results from the area around Kreeger Hall will be evaluated to identify potential perchlorate source areas.
Well #5 will be 15 feet north of highest perchlorate detections
Prior to installing temporary wells, each borehole location will be cleared to a depth of 10 feet using an air spade to ensure that utilities are not impacted by drilling activities ... Split-spoon samples (extending the length of the temporary well) will be collected and analyzed, along with one groundwater sample and one soil sample, approximately 10 to 15 feet below ground surface, from the borehole locations.
Well #9 will be 30 feet east of highest perchlorate detections