[USCC] FW: Re: Fecal Coliform testing issues

[Bob Engel]

Well I saw this and thought it might add to the conversation regarding Fecal Coliform
The real intersting point is in the last paragraph regarding existing soil.


Yet more toxins found at Keith 
This time the problem is loam trucked in for landscaping 
By AARON NICODEMUS, Standard-Times staff writer 

NEW BEDFORD — It seems the new Keith Middle School project can't catch a break. Even soil brought in from other places has been found to be contaminated. 
The city has ordered the site's contractor, Agostini Construction Co. of East Providence, to remove all of the soil a subcontractor laid down for grass and shrubs because it contained very high amounts of fecal coliform bacteria. 
Test results of the soil revealed it contained as much as 340,000 parts fecal coliform bacteria per gram, considerably higher than the environmental standard of 1,000 parts per gram set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The results were mixed, with some spots testing as low as 3,200 parts fecal coliform, and one spot testing for the spike of 340,000 parts fecal coliform. 
Conservation Agent Sarah Porter told the Board of Health last night that the soil a subcontractor brought to the site smelled terrible, and that she was concerned about its possible effect on wetlands behind the school. She had some of the material tested and found it to have high counts of fecal coliform. 
Agostini did extensive testing of all of the material it had laid down throughout the site and found high counts of fecal coliform throughout. 
Last month, the city and the Conservation Commission ordered Agostini to remove all of the soil and replace it with clean soil. Last night, the Board of Health confirmed that opinion, calling the soil "a potentially hazardous condition." 
Fecal coliform bacteria is found in mammalian feces, according to the EPA, and "is used as an indicator of the presence of human feces, bacteria, viruses, and pathogens in the water column." 
The $70 million school was built on a city dump site whose soil was contaminated with industrial byproducts like polychlorinated biphenyls, heavy metals and semi-volatile organic compounds. During construction, about 70,000 tons of soil was removed from the site, and a cap was placed over the remaining contaminated soil. The school was built on more than 160 concrete pilings that were driven as much as 25 feet into the soil. 
The new soil that Agostini delivered to the site is already being removed from the rear portion of the site, near the wetland, according to Mayor Scott W. Lang. 
"We had previously asked that they remove all of the soil from the site," Mayor Lang said last night. "One way or the other, that soil was coming off. I'm glad the board (of health) has bolstered the city's position on this." 
Ms. Porter said Agostini was contracted to bring loam to the site that had enough organic content to support the growth of grass and shrubs. The first soil brought to the site, however, was not loam. She described it as "a silty, sandy mixture" that would not have supported such growth. 
The company then brought in two types of compost to supplement its first delivery, she said. One batch of compost came from Merrimack, N.H., and contained what Ms. Porter described as "biosolids, brewery yeast and sawdust." The mixture was supposed to be heated at high enough temperatures to kill any micro-organisms, she said. 
The second batch of compost, from Bristol, R.I., was a combination of leaves and grass clippings. Ironically, it was this second batch that was found to have the dramatic fecal coliform counts, she said. 
Board members asked Ms. Porter where the fecal coliform might have come from. She said it could come from animals or humans, and that the compost might have become contaminated when it was stored or transferred. She was adamant, however, that it was present in the compost when it was delivered. 
"I think the fecal coliform was indicative of other things that were likely in the soil," she told the Board of Health last night. She was also asked if the bacteria might have been on the site already. 
Tests were taken at Walsh Field, to give the city an idea of what fecal coliform levels might exist already. Three tests found much lower levels, from three parts fecal coliform to 2,800, she said. 
Contact Aaron Nicodemus 
at anicodemus at s-t.com