Carcinogenic TCE At Levels Up To 35X EPA Maximum In New N. Michigan Condominiums
PETOSKEY, MI -- Northern Michigan's industrial past is returning to haunt the Petoskey waterfront, where environmental and public health officials are going door-to-door to test for poison vapors inside residences built on a Superfund site. The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating vapor intrusion around the former Petoskey Manufacturing Company site at 200 W. Lake Street, which was redeveloped into a condominium complex next to Bayfront Park.
Trichloroethylene, (TCE), a cancer-causing industrial solvent still present in high concentration in the groundwater and soil under the site, was found at levels high enough in the indoor at the Water Street Condominiums in March and April for health officials to suggest that some residents temporarily relocate. Air containment levels dropped after the EPA began to filter the air and stem the vapor intrusion, but an agency spokesperson confirmed that 11 of the 17 units in the condo complex had TCE in the air above the agency's health-based screening level of 0.3 parts-per-billion by volume (ppbv).
Indoor air concentrations were as high as 10.6-ppbv in some Water Street units, about 35 times the screening threshold. Underneath the complex concrete slab, TCE levels were as high as 2,865-ppbv, about 220 times higher than the screening level for soil gas under a building.
The EPA considers TCE a carcinogen that is dangerous to touch, swallow or breath. The agency says breathing small amounts may cause headaches, lung irritation, dizziness, poor coordination and difficulty concentrating. Breathing large amounts may cause impaired heart function, unconsciousness and death.
EDIT
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/05/petoskey_vapor_intrusion_epa.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Some of my coworkers told me I'd get used to it.
I'd get terrible headaches.
It wouldn't surprise me if some of them were eventually killed by that and other chemicals they got "used to."
This was the same place that had two huge tanks for liquid hazardous wastes, one for acid waste, one for alkaline. The dump would only accept pH neutral waste, so they'd mix the contents of the tanks together in a third tank before the waste truck came, adding pool chemicals as necessary to achieve a neutral pH. There were always some eye-watering smells associated with that process. I think the chemist whose job it was got paid to see-no-evil and sign the papers. (My ex-brother-in-law was an expert landing jobs like that... he was really good at not seeing stuff.)
The dump these wastes were sent to became a superfund site and it's now surrounded by wells to remove the contaminated groundwater for treatment. The contaminants removed are sent off to someone else's backyard.
