THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 28, 1995 TAG: 9509280373
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The city will test soil from the playground at Lakeview Elementary School and further study air quality in the building, in response to concerns raised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Lakeview was built in the southeast corner of a former city dump. But before the school was built, in the late 1960s, trash and other materials were removed from that section, administrators said Wednesday.
Neither the school nor its campus poses an immediate health threat to students, school staff members or neighborhood residents, federal authorities said. About 630 students attend Lakeview, one of the district's most popular elementary schools.
Still, federal investigators raised red flags about lead and other potentially hazardous materials the EPA first collected at the site in the summer of 1994. The state asked the EPA to check things out after its own screenings in 1992 and 1993 showed lead in soil takenfrom the playground area.
The agency wants some environmental work done at the school, but it agreed to let the city conduct more of its own tests first.
The school district recently closed the playground - which will be tested for lead on Friday. But a temporary playground was set up on the school's west side.
For nearly five months, the district has monitored indoor air quality at the school. Hazardous chemicals haven't been detected, administrators said. The district will continue to monitor air at the school for at least another month.
The EPA will evaluate the city's test results and in October decide what else needs to be done.
In late August, the agency recommended steps the city could take to make sure gases inside the building and chemicals in the soil don't create unhealthy conditions. The city now questions whether the $1.1 million in suggested site work is necessary, especially since the EPA concluded that ``there are no immediate health problems from conditions at the school.''
The recommended work could include setting up wells to measure methane and other landfill gases, conducting more studies and installing a permanent landfill cap.
The city will cover the bill for lead testing at Lakeview's playground; the district is paying an outside firm to conduct additional air-quality tests at the school. The final tab hasn't been calculated.
Meanwhile, the city is reviewing a draft report from consultants hired to study air-quality problems at Churchland High School. Earlier this week, the City Council approved a consent decree to begin cleanup at the Abex lead foundry - a contaminated area along the Effingham corridor.
Several Cavalier Manor residents said they weren't alarmed by the EPA's findings at Lakeview.
``The EPA has said that the levels (of contaminants) aren't high and they just want to monitor things,'' said School Board member Ray A. Smith Sr., a neighborhood activist whose daughter attends Lakeview.
Lakeview Principal Isaac L. Askew said: ``My children attended (Lakeview) during the early 1980s. I live in this community. Right now, I'm not overwhelmingly concerned. I'm very comfortable at this point.'' by CNB