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Superintendent of Schools
Environmental Fact Sheet
City of New Bedford's Investigation of Groundwater Seeps
in the Basement of NBHS
The City’s environmental consultant (TRC Environmental Corporation) is investigating groundwater (water located beneath the ground in spaces in the soil) which enters, or “seeps” into, the basement of New Bedford High School through small cracks in the foundation in rooms used by maintenance staff. This fact sheet describes TRC’s investigation, its implications for building occupants, the next steps in the investigation, and where interested individuals can obtain more detailed information.
What investigation has been completed to date?
TRC collected groundwater and basement water samples near where groundwater seeps into the basement of the high school. Analytical results for these samples suggest the potential for chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to be present in indoor air in the building. Therefore, TRC conducted additional sampling, including indoor air sampling, on an expedited basis. On January 30th and 31st, TRC sampled indoor air from several locations within the high school near the groundwater seep and in other areas of the building, including classrooms. The results confirm the presence of chlorinated VOCs in the school. While the chlorinated VOCs detected in indoor air appear to be related to groundwater contamination, the detection of other VOCs in indoor air samples that have not been detected in groundwater is more likely associated with indoor sources such as cleaning materials or outdoor sources such as vehicle exhaust that gets entrained in the high school ventilation system. TRC’s preliminary risk assessment of the indoor air concentration data indicates that there is no significant risk to the health of building occupants based on criteria established by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). However, the presence of detectable concentrations of VOCs in indoor air requires further investigation and possibly remedial action.
What are volatile organic compounds, or VOCs?
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands. Examples include: paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper, graphics and craft materials including glues and adhesives, permanent markers, and photographic solutions. Organic chemicals are widely used as ingredients in household products. Paints, varnishes, and wax all contain organic solvents, as do many cleaning, disinfecting, cosmetic, degreasing, and hobby products. Fuels are made up of organic chemicals. All of these products can release organic compounds while you are using them, and, to some degree, when they are stored.
Yes, it is safe to occupy the high school, including rooms where samples were collected, based on TRC’s assessment of indoor air quality data collected to date. TRC performed risk calculations using the VOC concentration data for indoor air in combination with the same procedures used to evaluate indoor air quality at the Keith Middle School. TRC concluded that there is no significant risk to the health of building occupants based on criteria established by MassDEP. TRC’s risk calculations included all of the VOCs detected in indoor air, regardless of whether they were detected in basement, or seep water. Indoor air was sampled in a manner that was intended to detect the highest concentrations that might exist in the high school by collecting samples: (1) at a time of year when migration of VOCs into the building is likely to be highest; (2) from locations near where groundwater enters the building; and (3) during the weekend when ventilation within the building is likely to be somewhat lower than it is during the week. Risks were calculated separately for each room that was sampled, based on the assumption that someone spends 8 hours per day, 5 days per week for 27 years in that one room.
TRC will continue its expedited investigation of the low level VOCs detected in the high school’s indoor air and will proceed rapidly over the coming weeks. TRC’s investigation will include the following elements:
- collection of additional indoor air samples in the building
- an inventory of potential interior sources of chemicals observed in the recent indoor air samples, such as routinely used/stored cleaning materials or paints;
- an evaluation of potential outdoor sources (for example, vehicle exhaust potentially entrained by the ventilation system);
- an investigation of vapor concentrations beneath the floor of the high school; and
- an investigation to determine whether these compounds are present in the groundwater beneath the high school.
The inventory of potential indoor sources was performed earlier this week, and vapor samples are scheduled to be collected from beneath the floor in the next few weeks.
TRC will evaluate subsequent rounds of indoor air concentration data in the same way and on an expedited basis. TRC is focused on characterizing the nature and extent of the VOCs identified in the indoor air samples, continuing to evaluate potential risk associated with these chemicals, and, if necessary, providing recommendations for remedial measures.
All chemical concentration data for groundwater, seep water, and indoor air will be posted at the City’s website http://www.newbedford-ma.gov/McCoy/Keithmiddleschool.html If you have additional questions, please contact Scott Alfonse, City of New Bedford Environmental Stewardship Department, at (508) 991-6188 or email scott.alfonse@newbedford-ma.gov.
We encourage parents of elementary students to make an appointment with their child’s physician to receive the H1N1 vaccine, because we will not be able to immunize these students at school. If you have any questions, please contact Karen Regan, Supervisor of School Nurses .
Tips for Keeping Healthy
Dear Students and Families,
Building a Culture of Readers
Casimir Pulaski School - " Reading Rocks"
Summer is over and we are already into the fourth week of autumn. Many of New Bedford Public Schools students took the summer reading challenge and plunged into books. The district’s focus is to encourage our students to read in order to build upon important literacy skills such as: fluency, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, vocabulary and comprehension. Besides building literacy skills, students who read increase their background knowledge, experience other worlds through text, and become familiar with different genres.
This past summer, the district’s goal was for our 12,000 plus students to read at minimum two books, with a district-wide total goal of 30,000 books read. We may have fallen short, but New Bedford students read 17,465 books, and this was across grades kindergarten through twelfth. I commend our readers for nearing the goal and families who supported and encouraged their children to read this summer. A special thank you to community groups, the New Bedford Public Library System and our partners who donated books or provided summer school programs centered around literacy, thereby ensuring that students read during the summer.
Students across the district celebrated in multiple ways such as: a parade of characters, school-wide book shares, presentations of projects, read-alouds, special guest readers, teachers reading their favorite books to their classes, student success walls, story tellers, book-in-a-bag project, and reading fairs. Our top readers for the challenge are Rosalie Sequeira, Kayli Vieira and Asorliz Aviles at the elementary level. Rosalie read 128 books this summer while both Kayli and Asorliz each read 100 books. At the middle school level, Isaiah Botelho read 47 books. Our top readers will each receive a $20.00 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble, of course to buy more books. The second place readers at the elementary level will receive a $15.00 gift certificate. The challenge also wants to celebrate and recognize the classes at each level who read the most. Shauneen Milton’s second grade class at Taylor School is to be commended for reading 339 books. Cathy O’Malley’s sixth grade class read a total of 200 books, and Lisha Cabral’s high school English class read a total of 82 books. Ms. Milton and Ms. O’Malley’s class will receive a pizza party while Ms. Cabral’s class, each student will receive a $5.00 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble.
As our Director of English, Pamela Pacheco states – “the love of reading is much more than just loving to read. It is created by the desire of wanting to learn more about something that intrigues us. What we love are the things that reading can bring to us; whether it is to dream about that special someone through reading a love story, or reading about dinosaurs with aspirations of becoming an archaeologist or reading about an inspirational person and thinking how we too can make our mark in this world.” For our children in New Bedford, the school district wants to make reading a habit that encourages learning through books.
Dr. Portia S. Bonner
Superintendent of New Bedford Public Schools