Next week the Army Corps of Engineers will resume work to remove World War I-era chemical weapons materials from Lot 18, the area encompassing the Financial Aid Building, part of Public Safety and an AU-owned house on Rockwood Parkway.
A siren test will take place tomorrow. The Army Corps has notified AU officials of the test, who will communicate with students when necessary, Army Corps Project Manager Gary Schilling said. The test is to ensure that the siren is functioning, since it would be used if there were an emergency.
The Corps plans to take steps to operate more efficiently, but none of these measures will undermine safety, Schilling said.
"We all want to make this operation as efficient as we can, but safety is our number one concern, and we won't do anything to compromise that," he said.
The Corps ran into problems last summer when excessive groundwater turned the soil into mud, making it difficult to sift for weapons-testing debris. The Army Corps is exploring methods for removing the water to increase efficiency, as well as adding more sifters.
Work on Lot 18 stopped Aug. 25 when the Corps used up all of the funds allotted for the project for that fiscal year. The project receives part of the $11 million annually allotted for the Spring Valley projects, which include sites in the neighborhoods surrounding AU.
The Lot 18 project began last June when the Corps found a sealed container of lewisite, a chemical warfare agent, buried in the field. The location had been a site of the Corps' chemical weapons research during World War I.
Lewisite is a blistering agent that can be lethal in large concentrations. The substance decomposes quickly into its composite compounds, including arsenic, when exposed to moisture.
Immediate effects of lewisite exposure would include skin irritation and blisters, eye irritation, cough and sinus problems, diarrhea and vomiting, and low blood pressure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"If it's buried and remains undisturbed for a long period of time, it's a greatly reduced risk," Schilling said. He estimates that the weapons testing materials have been buried in the site for 50 to 80 years.
Schilling said that the Corps has thorough safety measures in place despite the reduced risk.
"We have planned for the worst possible case scenario," he said. "We're spending millions of dollars on safety measures to protect our workers and the public."
The work will take place in a sealed containment tent with "redundant" air filters designed to capture chemical vapors. Air inside and outside of the tent will be monitored constantly, Schilling said.
The space inside the tent will be kept under negative pressure, meaning air will constantly be sucked into the tent so that it is impossible for fumes to escape the tent unfiltered. Generators will maintain tent pressure in the event of a power outage.
If chemical vapors were to escape the site, a siren would sound and AU officials would direct students, faculty and staff as to the appropriate safety procedures.
Schilling said these are the standard safety measures when dealing with this kind of chemical.
Arsenic was first discovered on AU's campus in 2001, The Eagle previously reported. Soil in the intramural fields, adjacent to the Watkins Arts building, contained the chemical. Student athletes who played on the field noticed that blisters appeared on their bodies when it rained.
An Army Corps test revealed that arsenic levels were 498 parts per million in some soil patches; the highest legal amount is 43 ppm. However, Schilling said the Army Corps and D.C. Department of Health have studied and conducted tests on people, including AU workers, and found that no one has had "adverse effects."
The Lot 18 project will continue until 2006, when all the weapons testing debris is removed, Schilling said.
Once Lot 18 digs are complete, the Army Corps' work at AU will be nearly done. However, there is still a "grid" near Hughes Hall that contains low contamination, Schilling previously told The Eagle.
