By Tracey Arial
www.thesuburban.com
After reading about the damaged heating tank and the decontamination at Crestview last summer, someone with a child at the school contacted The Suburban to ask whether the school is safe. This particular child suffers headaches and nausea at school but feels good at home.
Maxeen Jolin, the coordinator of communications services at the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board, assured The Suburban that all necessary decontamination work was completed as of Sept. 19, 2013.
This work is not registered as complete on the Environment Quebec’s list of contaminated lands.
Hélène Proteau, a spokesperson from the Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement, de la Faune et des Parcs (MDDEFP), said that the provincial database can’t be updated until the ministry receives and verifies technical reports so that it can verify that the work has been done properly. That hasn’t happened yet.
“Sometimes it takes some time for the consultant to receive laboratory reports or other details that might be needed,” she said. “As soon as the school board gets a satisfactory report from their consultant, they’ll send it to us so that we can verify that the results conform to our requirements. If all that works out properly, then we’ll report that the land has been rehabilitated on our records.”
Proteau also provided more details about the work that was done.
“We learned of this file in 2006,” she said. “They removed much of the contaminated soil in 2006, but the work was so close to the building that to remove any more soil would require structural supports because the foundation would not support the building on its own if they continued. That was in autumn. So the school board put other soil in the excavation until the final project could be completed. It took several years to do that work, but it was done in 2013.”
When The Suburban told the Madame Proteau about the parent who complained, she suggested that any concerned parent should speak to the CLSC near the school to get support and ensure that proper tests are completed.
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