Longtime Resident Geza Teleki was Fierce Critic of Corps' Cleanup

We write to honor the life of Geza Teleki.  After a long battle with many health issues, Geza passed away on January 7, 2014, in his home on Szentendre Island, Hungary.  He lived in Spring Valley from 1984 to 2003 at 3819 48th Street.  We remember Geza for his deep concern over the cleanup and wellbeing of Spring Valley.  He fought for a more thorough and transparent investigation into the buried munitions and chemical remains resulting from the World War I chemical weapons development and testing at the American University Experimental Station and neighboring properties.  Geza eloquently spoke of these concerns while serving on the Spring Valley Restoration Advisory Board from its inception until he resigned in 2002.  
Ginny Durrin & Ken Shuster
Northwest Current
January 29, 2014 (pg. 11)

Dr. Virginia Marie Weaver, an occupational health specialist at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, reported in a five-page clinic note last January that her patient,  Geza Teleki, represented a puzzle for any health professional.  Teleki, who in 2003 moved to Maryland after living in his family home on the 3800 block of 48th Street in Spring Valley for more than 30 years, suffers from diabetes, hypothyroidism, advancing kidney disease, colon disease and a heart ailment that may require surgery.  This multi-organ breakdown occurred in a two-year period after more than a decade of robust good health ... 

  Geza P. Teleki testifies at DC City Council hearing

 Weaver wrote that her patient "could have had exposure to volatile chemicals from soil evaporation or water leaking into his basement.  He could have had exposure to particulates and metals through gardening.  The extent of the exposure remains unknown due to the absence of extensive sampling during the time he was in the home."  She further wrote that the nature of the chemicals still in the ground "is unclear since they were experimental -- and the byproducts that could have formed over the 80 years are even more unclear." 
Charles Bermpohl
Northwest Current
November 10, 2004 (pg. B-3)

Nevermore, I realized as I hastened homeward to my own bed ... would I regard chimpanzees as "mere animals."  On that singular eve, which also marked the twilight of my youth, I had seen my species inside the skin of another ... Having spent some years in the company of chimpanzees, both free and confined individuals, I find myself no longer able to cleave to the majority human view of chimpanzees as inferior beings.  
Geza P. Teleki
They Are Us (1993) 

Live 75mm Shell Shuts Down Glenbrook Road Dig for Two Days

On Monday workmen unearthed another crusty munition from its current excavation of the toxic-waste site on Glenbrook Road, a stone's throw from the American University campus.  The fourth such find pulled from the ground in tony Spring Valley since September, the artifact turned out to be a 75-millimeter shrapnel round buried when the Army abandoned a experimental warfare station after World War I.  The Army Corps of Engineers immediately shut down the Glenbrook Road operation, transported the bomb to a secure site behind Sibley Memorial Hospital, and checked it for explosives.

The fill was determined to be a riot-control agent that was used during World War I," the Corps announced Wednesday, saying that it "poses no danger to the workers or community."  Christine Dietrich, who lives across the street from the dig with her husband and two young children, is not reassured.  "It's absolutely unacceptable," she told Washingtonian.  "I cannot have my children playing in the front yard when they are digging up one bomb after another across the street." 

Harry Jaffe

The Washingtonian

 January 16, 2014

MK IV adapter/booster

On Jan. 13, crews safely removed two items.  The first item was encountered during the morning effort and was determined to be a Mk IV adapter/booster.  In the World War I era, an adapter and booster casing was designed to convert a 75mm conventional munition into a chemical munition.  The team concluded that the item is MPPEH (material potentially presenting an explosive hazard).  The item will not detonate without a fuze.  It was packaged and transported to the Federal Property.  The project team assessed this finding and based on experience and prior efforts determined that high probability excavations could resume using our existing multiple layers of engineering controls ...

The second item, encountered in the afternoon of Jan. 13, was determined to be a 75mm shrapnel round, unfuzed and unfired. The initial assessment indicates the item has an unknown solid fill. The item was packaged and transported to Federal Property, where it is waiting an additional assessment. Until the second assessment is complete, the site is shutdown.

Spring Valley FUDS

4825 Glenbrook Road Update

January 15, 2014  

75mm shrapnel round

The Munitions Advisory Review Board reviewed the assessments of the 75mm shrapnel round that was encountered at the Glenbrook Road project Jan. 13.  After looking at X-rays and a chemical analysis, the team determined the item does not contain energetics.  The fill was determined to be a riot control agent that was used during World War I.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has reviewed these results and determined that our existing engineering controls are adequate and no modifications to our procedures are needed at this time.  Based on this determination, we plan to resume high probability operations on Thursday, Jan. 16. 

Spring Valley FUDS

4825 Glenbrook Road Update

January 16, 2014

Itinerant Digital FUDS Archive Moves for 2nd Time this Year

GASSED by John Singer Sargent (1919)

Our selected archived Spring Valley project documents have been moved and are now at http://springvalley.ertcorp.com/.  These documents were most recently housed on a SharePoint site that required a username and password.  This new site is public and does not require a username and password to assist in ease of access to these selected archived project documents.

Spring Valley FUDS

Project Summary

November 2013

Editor's note:  i.e.  for the second time in 2013 the Spring Valley FUDS project archive has been moved to a new website,  once again changing all previously bookmarked URLs.

 75mm under Glenbrook Road front porch

Perchlorate Levels Next to Kreeger Hall "Went Up Significantly"

Up on American University in front of Kreeger Hall we have wells PZ-4, MW-45 and MW-44 all within twenty feet of one another ... MW-44 is a more recent well that we sampled in March and September of 2012.  When we first sampled it was 33, 34, 36 parts per billion; it looks like it went up a little bit in April to about 41 ppb at 80 - 95 feet.  And then 45(S) and 45(D) at 120 feet and about 150 feet: when we first sampled that in September 2012, it looked like there were relatively low levels of perchlorate, but then when we sampled it again in May the concentration went up significantly [to 54 ppb].

 MW-44, MW-45 & PZ-4 in front of Kreeger

... We're going to continue our semi-annual and quarterly sampling efforts.  We have a sampling event planned next month in December and we'll also sample again in June.  For the quarterly sampling locations, we'll sample in March and September as well ... When we determine that we have sufficient data to define the nature and extent of contamination, we'll begin writing the draft remedial investigation report.  We'll also need to sit down with EPA 
and the District to talk about what these results mean.
Todd Beckwith, USACE
RAB Meeting
November 12, 2013

Utility Undertakes Long Overdue Spring Valley Water Main Upgrade

DC Water is performing water main upgrades within Spring Valley as part of its Capital Improvement Program.  These upgrades are designed to improve water quality, system reliability, water pressure, and improve available fire flow ... Since the existing water mains were constructed after American University Experiment Station was closed, it is unlikely that any chemical warfare or explosive materials will be encountered during construction of the water main upgrades.

... DC Water has adopted a conservative approach to reduce risk, including performing soil testing by coring through the pavement and collecting samples for laboratory analysis; minimizing excavation by lining water mains where existing pipe size is adequate and replacing water mains in the same trench where pipe upsizing is needed; providing hazards recognition training for construction crews; and having an unexploded ordnance specialist present to observe excavation work.
DC Water & Sewer Authority
Spring Valley Water Main Upgrade Project
November 1, 2013

Water Main Upgrade Project Location

150 Tons of Lewisite Dumped in Chesapeake Bay as WW I Ended

In 1917, the chemistry building at Catholic University was turned over to the War Department and a team of chemists under the direction of Capt. Winford Lee Lewis began refining mustard gas. They found Nieuwland's thesis and refined his discovery into Lewisite ... One hundred fifty tons of Lewisite were produced in Willoughby, Ohio and shipped to Edgewood arsenal in 516 steel 50 gallon drums.  These had just arrived at the Bush River Depot when the war ended on November 11, 1917.  The author believes these were dumped in the Chesapeake Bay 50 miles from Baltimore ...

Many chemical shells from Aberdeen PG were dumped offshore in the Atlantic, starting with the steamer Elinor in 1918.  In the 1960s, during operation CHASE (Cut Holes And Sink Em), barges and boats of chemical ordnance were sunk along the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Hawaiian and Panamanian coasts.  These were usually dumped in very deep water.  However, WWII era chemical bombs, drums or one ton cylinders always contained an air space to allow the agent to expand in hot weather.  This can cause thin skinned munitions or drums to float or be light enough to roll into shore in heavy weather.

Richard Albright

UXOinfo.com

October 22, 2013

75mm projectile found in Washington D.C. dump

Two Saw Horses with 20-Foot Gap Can't Secure High Probability Site

Earlier this week, our security guard encountered a trespasser on the site and handled the situation according to our established operational security procedures.  Glenbrook Road is an active construction/remediation site.  Unauthorized visitors are not allowed at the site because it violates our safety and security protocols.  The most prevalent safety concerns are trips, slips, and falls. We brief our site crews and visitors on the key safety issues at the site on a daily basis.

 

Additionally, security is another key component of our protocols for the site.  We do have armed Special Police Officers at the site during all non-working times to provide security.  We have taken all necessary steps to conduct operations in a safe manner and to protect the public at all times, which means no authorized visitors are allowed on the site.  This requirement is meant to protect not only the public, but also our site workers.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

4825 Glenbrook Road Weekly Update

September 27, 2013

 South Campus Restricted Area (photo gallery)

Two saw horses — 20 feet apart — are the only public warning on the site perimeter that the area is restricted in any way.  These so-called "barriers" (next to blue arrow below) are located on the right-hand, eastern edge of the Army Corps' restricted area.  There are no signs indicating that the area just outside the lower level exit of Watkins Building (orange arrow on right) has been restricted by the Army Corps.  Nor are there any signs indicating that it has been restricted in any way, if you approach the army trailers from the athletic fields to the north (other orange arrow).

Editor, WMD in DC Blog

South Campus Restricted Area

October 6, 2013