Remediation Underway At Northport Middle School: Superintendent

NORTHPORT, NY — The remediation of Northport Middle School began last week, Robert Banzer, superintendent of the Northport-East Northport School District, told the community in a letter last Thursday. The Suffolk County Department of Health Services received and reviewed the investigative data report made by environmental firm PW Grosser Consulting after elevated levels of mercury and benzene were found in sanitary systems on school grounds.

The remediation will consist of pumping out the contaminated sludge or liquid from the septic tanks and leaching pools, Banzer said. A state-licensed industrial waste transporter will then remove the waste. After that, health officials will go to the school for "end point sampling," which is a sampling test to confirm the remediation worked. PWGC will then prepare a UIC Remediation Report on the results. If acceptable, the county will state remediation is complete and no further action would be required, Banzer said. The process will last anywhere from one to three weeks.

The superintendent said his top priority is protecting the health and safety of students and staff. The school district has coordinated with governmental agencies including the county and state health departments, the Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"Be assured that we continue to work with these governmental agencies while completing the full comprehensive review," Banzer wrote. "We are also fully committed to ensuring that the residents of Northport- East Northport have access to all of the same resources available to the District."

The environmental assessment referenced in the county Health Department's letter is not the full comprehensive study expected to be completed and reported to the community in the next few weeks, Banzer said. The report the county received was solely "Underground Injection Control" data about the middle school.

The district does not have a copy of the report the environmental consultants sent to county health officials, Banzer said, which is standard.

"You may notice that there are additional UIC structures and contaminants listed in the
County’s letter," Banzer said. "This is because PWGC not only tested the two identified septic systems on the southern and eastern sides of the school where the benzene was found, but also tested and reported on ALL of the sanitary systems located in the Middle School, which is frequently requested by SCDHS when contamination is identified in one or more on-site UICs. This is why there are more structures and contaminants listed in the County’s letter. Although additional remediation is required due to contaminants found at actionable levels, it is important to note that NONE were measured at levels higher than what was previously reported about mercury and benzene."

Here are the sanitary systems and leaching pools:

• The northern sanitary system, which includes ST007, ST008, DW039, DW040, and
  DW044, is connected to the N-Wing, K-Wing, and L-Wing.
• The southern sanitary system, which includes ST009, LP011, LP012, LP013, LP015, and LP016, is connected to the cafeteria, kitchen, H-Wing, and G-Wing (exclusive of G-51, G-52, and G-53).
• The eastern sanitary system, which includes ST010, is connected to the gymnasium, the main office, and the A- through D-Wings.
• ST003 and Abandoned pool G-Wing are both related to the science classroom sinks in G-51, G-52, and G-53.
• ST006 is connected to the middle M-Wing building.
• LP010, LP027, and LP034 are stormwater drains.

In his letter, Banzer included a statement by Brad Hutton, deputy commissioner of the Office of Public Health at New York Department of Health, from February, which Banzer said is still timely:

"There was a detection of mercury in a cesspool that was connected to drains from old science rooms and also benzene in two septic tanks," Hutton said. "Certainly, those are things that need to be addressed and cleaned up. Not only were the levels not ones that would be expected to present health effects but also, they were not in locations that would typically result in exposure to students. We certainly support the need to clean them up, but really to expect health affects you would need to have a reasonable pathway for exposure where students would be exposed to those contaminants."

Lab testing and handheld device testing for volatile organic compounds and mercury in the air did not find "elevated concentrations" inside the building, according to Banzer.

"This remains true and is applicable to all of our sanitary systems," Banzer said. "Therefore, there is no reason to believe students or staff have been exposed to contaminants found in the sanitary systems or leaching pools as there is no route of exposure."

Mercury has not been detected deeper than 18 feet below ground, Banzer said.

"This means that it DID NOT MIGRATE TO THE GROUNDWATER, which is approximately 110 feet below ground," he wrote.

The district understands how unsettling issues involving environmental matters are to a community, Banzer said.

"Our commitment to respond and communicate in a thorough, responsible manner remains," he wrote. "We have continually emphasized the importance of following the facts and information presented by the professionals. We implore the media and others to be mindful that speculation without facts or in-depth medical and scientific knowledge is counterproductive and disruptive to the emotional well-being of our students."

The results of PWGC's comprehensive report will be shared with the community when complete, Banzer said.

"I want to thank you in advance for your patience and willingness to allow the facts and information from the report to guide the district’s decision making process."

Banzer's full letter can be read here.

Northport Middle School students were relocated to other buildings throughout the district in mid-January for the remainder of the school year. The decision came amidst PWGC's investigation into high levels of mercury found in a cesspool near the school. Due to the new coronavirus, all schools throughout Suffolk County closed for a two-week period that started Monday.

Parents made their voices heard early in the calendar year after the mercury was found. At high levels, mercury can damage the brain, kidneys and developing fetuses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry.

Elevated levels of benzene were found in soil samples from two different septic systems, PWGC told the district in January.

The Northport Middle School case garnered attention from state officials, including Senator Charles Schumer, who urged the Environmental Protection Agency to get involved in the investigation. The EPA deferred the investigation to PWGC, but said it would continue communications with the New York State Department of Health and Suffolk County Department of Health Services.

The New York State Department of Health is doing its own separate study of cancer in the Northport-East Northport School District. The department has worked since March 2019 studying leukemia cases among the Northport High School Class of 2016. In February, it announced it would expand the scope of its research to look at cancers among children and adults across the entire school district over a longer time period. It will review whether there are cancer elevations among residents of the school district as a whole, certain geographic areas within the school district, in specific time-frames, or within specific age groups.