Correia Junior High School will hold a parent meeting Wednesday, Jan. 24, to discuss the San Diego Unified School District’s plans to clean up burn ash that was discovered on the campus in 2004. This is the second such meeting since 2006.
A small gathering last October attended by six parents was the first public meeting about the ash buried 2.5 feet to 45 feet underground near the campus’ southern edge. The toxic substance was discovered more than two years ago when the district attempted to install a new fire line service on school property.
“While we were doing some of the preliminary work for that project we identified some burn ash and that ended up stopping the project,” said David Umstot, interim chief facilities officer for the San Diego Unified School District.
The district responded by contacting the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) for assistance in the investigation and cleanup.
According to Umstot, the department supports schools that are dealing with environmental issues such as burn ash or former underground storage tanks.
The ash “” the result of burning trash at the site “” was likely scattered on the surface and covered with fill material around the time of Correia’s construction in 1958.
“[Burning trash] was a common practice back in the middle of the last century,” Umstot said. “No one thought twice about it.”
The burn ash has only been located in places containing the fill materials, which includes the southeast and southwest corners of campus “” the current site of a play field used for physical education activities. According to Umstot, the field in question is currently covered with a layer granite material.
“There is no burn ash on the surface of the play field and there is no risk of exposure at this point in time,” Umstot said. “So unless you’re basically digging a trench, digging a hole or some other activity, which is basically digging down into the actual fill material, there’s no route for exposure to occur.”
Should exposure occur, however, it could result in human health issues, according to Rebecca Chou, Cypress branch chief for the DTSC school property evaluation and cleanup division. Chou noted that the ash usually contains harmful dioxins and furans, and that some metals have been detected underground.
“We want to ensure the future safety, not just current status,” Chou said. “We want to make sure that the school will complete their “¦ investigation and consider other mitigation measures necessary to ensure the future safety.”
Currently, the district, with assistance from DTSC, has created a Preliminary Assessment Report (PEA), or a characterization of the site that evaluates contaminants present and potential exposure pathways.
The district is now in the process of creating a plan for removing the substances, which must be complete by April 13.
“[The plan is] probably going to include things like capping the site, doing some slope repair and treatment so that we don’t end up in a situation where, if the slopes erode, that we erode into the burn ash and have it potentially available for exposure,” Umstot said.
While Umstot did not want to speculate as to the preferred solution, Chou said she believes capping the site would be a better option than excavating and removing the burn ash.
“If you try and dig it out, you may actually create a pathway for the worker that they may be exposed to “¦ while they try to excavate it,” Chou said. “I think capping would be a better remedy and that is what they have proposed at this time.”
The unfinished plan should be unveiled for public comment sometime in February. Once the DTSC evaluates the public input, it will finalize and implement the plan.
The meeting on Jan. 24 will review the preliminary report and allow the public to ask questions and voice concerns. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be held in either the auditorium or the library at Correia Junior High School, 4302 Valeta St.
For more information on the school site evaluation, visit www.dtsc.ca.gov and click on the EnviroStor link. Enter San Diego as the city and select “School Cleanup Sites” to find the link for Correia’s report.