Thursday, August 23rd, 2018
Schools move to mitigate radon levels
Officials report buildings safe
By Tom Stankard
Photo by Tom Stankard/The Daily Standard
A student leaves Celina Primary School after the first day of classes on Wednesday. The district has installed radon mitigation systems at the building as well as at the middle school and education complex.
CELINA - School district officials have detected higher-than-recommended levels of radon at the primary and middle schools and the education complex, leading to the installation of mitigation systems at each building.
Superintendent Ken Schmiesing said the levels are still safe and don't pose a health threat to staff or students.
"If people tested for radon at their homes, they would probably have a higher level," he added.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency recommends a level of no more than 4 picocuries per liter, Schmiesing said. Test results at the three buildings ranged from -0.3 to 6.1 pCi/L. At the primary school, 12 testing sites out of 73 were above 4 pCi/L, and only one testing site out of 65 at the middle school and one out of 24 at the education complex exceeded the recommended threshold.
U-tube manometers serving as visual warning devices have been installed inside the buildings to measure the vacuum pressure of the systems and to notify officials if levels don't drop, Schmiesing said.
Crews also have been sealing all cracks, pipe penetrations and gaps between the crawl space and the first-floor areas of the buildings "to help maintain a negative pressure within the crawl space" and help stop radon from entering the buildings, he added.
District officials conduct the testing every five-seven years as a precaution. OEPA does not require the tests, Schmiesing said.
People cannot smell or taste radon, according to the EPA. The naturally occurring gas seeps into buildings from surrounding soil. It is considered a serious environmental health issue as it is the second-leading cause of lung cancer.
The only way to detect a radon problem is testing. High levels of radon can be found in a number of schools across the country, according to the EPA. Nearly one-fifth of schools have at least one classroom with a radon level of 4 pCi/L. Agency officials estimate that more than 70,000 classrooms have high radon levels.
The testing was completed by J&K Environmental Services, Ottawa, at a cost of $9,000 for all six buildings. The annual operating cost for the mitigation system is $200. Schmiesing said testing will be done again when the heating systems are turned on later this year.
