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A state agency has lowered the Public Health Goal for perchlorate, a dangerous pollutant found in many underground water basins across the Southland ... The goal was lowered Friday from 6 parts per billion to 1 part per billion, officials announced ... The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment updated its Public Health Goal based on “the inhibition iodide uptake into the thyroid gland and the consequent disruption of thyroid hormone production,” the agency said in a statement. The PHG update considers recent research providing new information on exposures to and possible effects of perchlorate, focusing on infants, the agency said.
Jim Steinberg
San Bernardino County Sun
February 27, 2015
The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment today published an updated public health goal (PHG) of 1 part per billion for perchlorate in drinking water ... The updated PHG is lower than the previous goal because it incorporates new research about the effects of perchlorate on infants. Like the previous PHG, the updated PHG takes into account exposure from all sources of perchlorate including food ... “This updated public health goal reflects infants’ increased susceptibility to the health effects of perchlorate,” said OEHHA Director Dr. George Alexeeff. “It is set at a level that would provide health protection for people of all ages.”
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... Perchlorate is known to block the thyroid’s ability to take in and process iodide, which is a nutrient essential to brain development, growth, heart function, and other systems. Studies conducted by OEHHA scientists and others have revealed that perchlorate can harm the health of infants at lower levels than the levels that are harmful to healthy adults. OEHHA’s updated PHG incorporates new data on how much water infants consume per kilogram of body weight. It also considers infants’ intake of perchlorate from infant formula reconstituted with tap water.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it will release an updated report about the progress of World War I munitions cleanup around AU and Spring Valley on March 10 ... The report is part of a regulatory process overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency and D.C. District Department of the Environment to determine if more cleanup efforts are required, according to Andrea Takash, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps segment that is overseeing the cleanup ... Takash said: “We have been talking about this remedial investigation report for over a year. What is new is there are about 100 properties that this report will identify as properties that [the U.S. Army Corps] will want to look at further” ...
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The sites of former weapons usage and disposal, the U.S. Army Corps has determined, need further evaluation about potential contamination or buried munitions, according to Takash. Among the properties that will be examined and included in the remedial report are portions of the AU campus near Kreeger and Watkins Halls. The March 10 report will include an overview of the project, analysis on findings and future plans and expectations for cleanup, as well as updated evaluation about the AU sites. The properties identified for further evaluation will be notified and informed before the report is released to the public.
Katherine Saltzman
The Eagle
February 16, 2015
Many may have read the NW Current article in the January 21 issue ... We would like to clarify that the areas noted in the article are general locations that underwent focused evaluations in the report, not the recommendations made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for further investigation. The Site-Wide Remedial Investigation report recommendations will be provided at the March 10 Restoration Advisory Board meeting and will be further discussed and presented at a community meeting during the 45-day public comment period this spring. The report is currently being reviewed by our project regulatory partners (EPA and D.C. District Department of the Environment). Comments are expected from the regulatory stakeholders in February. We hope to address comments and obtain regulator concurrence sometime in March.
More than two decades after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began cleaning up World War I-era contamination from Spring Valley and American University, the Army has said its work in the neighborhood is mostly complete. But last week, officials reported that some century-old munitions might remain in the area, and that some residents may be living in properties where there is an “unacceptable risk” from hazardous chemical contamination in the soil ... During World War I, American University hosted the U.S. Army’s main chemical warfare testing station. Munitions tests, and the postwar burial of various hazardous materials, contaminated areas of the campus and the surrounding woods, which subsequently became the Spring Valley community ...
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About four dozen properties are in an “area of interest” that includes Fordham Road roughly between Sedgwick and Quebec streets ... The Army will also look into a smaller area on the south side of Woodway Lane adjacent to the American University campus, and an adjacent area in the southwest corner of the campus around Kreeger and Watkins halls. Meanwhile, a 120-acre area elsewhere in the neighborhood, comprising roughly a hundred properties, might still have buried munitions that haven’t yet been recovered ...
“I suspect there could be some people who will be very upset,” Dan Noble, who is in charge of the Army’s cleanup efforts, said at the meeting, noting that it might take several years to remediate a contaminated property ... Among the chemicals that could be found at a dangerous level in the soil are arsenic, mustard, lewisite, cobalt, certain heavy metals, antimony and a group of three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Northwest Current
January 21, 2015
For more than 20 years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been conducting clean-up operations to remove World War I materiel discovered at various locations on or near the American University main campus and throughout the Spring Valley neighborhood. The presence of these materials dates back to 1917–18, when parts of the AU campus and the surrounding area were used by the U.S. government and the U.S. Army to support the war effort as a site to develop and test chemical weapons.
On December 1, 2014, the Army Corps is scheduled to resume excavation activities along Glenbrook Road, which parallels the southern border of AU’s campus ... This new phase of the project entails the exploration of an area where World War I era munitions were previously discovered; tests conducted on munitions removed from this site indicate the possible presence of chemical agents ...
Given the nature of these materials, the Army Corps has implemented extensive safety precautions including a containment structure and filtration units around the excavation area to prevent the release of harmful chemicals into the environment in unlikely case of an accident, and monitors to detect any unusual airborne agent. The university wants to ensure that everyone knows the excavation is taking place and is prepared to take appropriate actions if necessary.
David Taylor
American University
December 1, 2014
The quarterly sampling of the wells in front of Kreeger Hall on American University and the Sibley Hospital sump was concluded in September. The September quarterly sampling detected perchlorate concentrations above 15 parts per billion (ppb) at MW-44 and PZ-4D on AU’s campus ... The wells PZ-4S&D (sampled since 2006), MW-44, and MW-45S&D in front of Kreeger Hall at AU all represent different depths to get vertical delineation of the areas’ groundwater ...
MW-44 was installed in March 2012. Its results consistently range from 33 to 50 ppb. MW-44 is a deeper well. The groundwater flow at this depth is an order of magnitude less than PZ-4S, which means that the groundwater flow at PZ-4S may be around a foot a day, compared to an inch a day at MW-44. This means that the contamination seen at MW-44 may take longer to flush out over time ...
MW-21 and MW-22 are shallow wells along MacArthur Boulevard, and the Sibley sump is in the bottom of the elevator shaft at Sibley Hospital ... When MW-22 was first sampled, the perchlorate concentrations were around 5-10 ppb. The most recent sampling results in December 2013 and June 2014 detected perchlorate concentrations at 17 and 25 ppb.
Todd Beckwith, USACE
RAB Meeting
November 18, 2014 [pgs. 4 - 6]
The other new well was placed in the road on Rockwood Parkway, near the tip of the Rockwood Parkway "island." This multi-port well will further evaluate if there is any connection between the American University perchlorate plume and the plume detected in the vicinity of Sibley Hospital ... The Groundwater RI [Remedial Investigation] report will provide a summary of the groundwater investigation to include ... the nature and extent of contamination ... If the HHRA [Human Health Risk Assessment] does determine that any of the COPCs [Chemicals of Potential Concern] pose an unacceptable risk, a Feasibility Study will be performed to evaluate alternatives to address the unacceptable risk and identify Remedial Action objectives.
HENGST: Thank you, especially, for sharing those photographs of where the Army is now alleging the unlawful entry occurred on September 24, 2013. As you're well aware, that's not the area described by Officer McElwee at the RAB meeting of November 2013 (see pg. 3), nor is it the area referenced by RAB member Lee Monsein at this year's July RAB meeting (hear audio recording at 7 min. 35 sec.). At a minimum, I expect USACE to correct the erroneous 11/12/13 minutes and amend or retract the inaccurate 9/25/13 police report (see "Narrative," Part V). Even if the event took place in the area you now claim it did, that is not the property being intrusively investigated at 4825 Glenbrook Road, but is instead American University's so-called South Campus.
Question from George Vassiliou, RAB Member: Someone recently mentioned that you would share information with the RAB regarding the outcome of a trespassing incident at 4825 Glenbrook Road.
Officer McElwee explained that this incident occurred several months ago and was defined as a trespassing incident without any threat to the site itself. A gentleman walked onto the site, past the gate area, into the backyard behind the house. The guard stationed on site immediately contacted MPDC. Officer McElwee responded to the call and took an official report. Officer McElwee added that members of the public are entitled to a copy of the report, free of charge. It can be obtained in person at the MPDC 2nd District’s station on Idaho Avenue. [Office McElwee provided the report number (13137401) for ease of requesting a copy.] Officer McElwee emphasized that no threat was associated with this incident.
This weekend a very large crane will arrive in the project area's parking lot at American University, near Watkins Hall. The crane will be used to move the Engineering Control Structure. The crane will need to be built once it arrives on site. This means there will be about 15-20 trucks coming in this weekend to support the crane construction. We anticipate these trucks will be in the vicinity of Nebraska Ave. and Massachusetts Ave. starting at 7 a.m. Sept. 20. We have a plan in place to minimize local traffic impacts during the arrival of the crane. If the crane assembly is not complete on Sept. 20, we will work on Sept. 21 to finish the assembly.
4825 Glenbrook Road
Weekly Update
September 19, 2014
This month crews continued preparing the site for the Engineering Control Structure (ECS) move, including unlacing the ECS tent’s "skin," and building a dirt ramp to access the low probability work area behind the back retaining wall ... The crane is being used to move heavy equipment into place, especially the large ECS tent frame, in preparation for Phase 2 of the high probability excavation effort. On September 22, the crane passed the load test, demonstrating it will be able to move the large ECS tent frame from the front of the property towards the back, starting on October 3rd.
Spring Valley FUDS
Project Summary
September 2014
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