Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. will retest some schools with rooms showing elevated radon levels to determine if new air-handling equipment has corrected the problem.
Superintendent Jim Roberts said BCSC will spend about $8,500 to bring Alliance Environmental Group Inc., Indianapolis, to recheck several rooms at 10 schools or school buildings that five years ago tested above the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended level of 4.0 pCi/L, a measure of the rate of radioactive decay of radon.
Results from the retests will dictate any necessary next steps, including the need for long-term radon testing, which is for a minimum of 90 days, Roberts said. Further mitigation efforts may include increasing air flow and exhaust by increasing ventilation in the buildings, he said.
Radon is a colorless, odorless, tasteless and chemically inert radioactive gas, according to Kansas State University’s National Radon Program Services. It is formed by the natural radioactive decay of uranium in rock, soil and water, and can be found in all 50 states. Testing for it is the only way of telling how much of the gas is present.
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The U.S. Surgeon General has warned that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, second only to smoking. There are currently no conclusive data on whether children are at greater risk than adults from radon, according to Kansas State, and no specific subtype of lung cancer is associated with radon exposure.
The EPA has divided Indiana into radon zones to identify those with the highest potential to have predicted indoor radon screening levels greater than 4.0 pCi/L. Bartholomew County is in Zone 1, which is the highest potential group, along with 56 other counties including Shelby, Johnson, Jennings and Marion.
One thing that continues to stymie investigations on large public buildings, however, is that the EPA’s 4.0 pCi/L recommendation is actually for residential homes rather than large public buildings, where there is no set standard, said Kent Shadley, Alliance Environmental Group vice president for field services, which is the testing company BCSC used five years ago.
Companies that do radon evaluations use the 4.0 pCi/L standard, but it’s unknown if that is actually an effective number for larger spaces.
The 4.0 pCi/L standard is for radon exposures 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for 40 years, far more hours than any student spends in a school building, Shadley and school officials said.
Only four states require radon testing for public schools and Indiana does not, Shadley said. There is no state or federal requirement that schools test for radon, he said.
Local tests begin
Then-BCSC Superintendent John Quick and other school officials decided to test all BCSC buildings for radon in 2013 after Jeff Rossen of NBC News did national news stories about levels of the gas in the nation’s public schools during 2012 and 2013.
However, the testing was done during the second week of fall break in 2013, during a time when the air-handling systems for the buildings were turned off or running at a minimal level for energy conservation since the buildings were not in use, Roberts said.
At the time, testing canisters were placed in all 21 BCSC buildings for 48 to 72 hours to collect air samples. Larger buildings had 10 sample locations or fewer, and smaller schools had about five. Alliance then sent them to a lab for radon analysis.
In most of the buildings, the results came back as having no rooms above the 4.0 pCi/L, Roberts said. However, 10 buildings had rooms that registered radon readings above the 4.0 pCi/L, most of them with one or two rooms exceeding the limit. BCSC’s Information Services Center tested at four rooms above the 4.0 rate and Richards Elementary School had seven rooms in that category, according to the results.
Nearly 200 samples were taken from the 21 buildings, and 26 readings exceeded the 4.0 pCi/L level, school officials said.
School officials at the time attributed the higher concentrations in only some of the rooms as an anomaly. Because the air-handling systems were turned off, the stagnant air was not giving a reading that would be the same as if air flow had been moving through the building into each of the rooms and keeping the air fresh, Roberts said.
Radon is remediated two ways, by preventing the gas from getting into the building or by making sure the air flow is adequate to clear it out before it reaches levels the 4.0 pCi/L level, said Brett Boezeman, BCSC’s director of operations.
During the past five years, the school corporation has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade HVAC systems in numerous BCSC schools, including Richards, Boezeman said.
These steps were taken because the buildings, some of which were built in the 1950s and 1960s, needed HVAC upgrades simply because of the age of the air handling systems.
In 2015, BCSC officials installed a new chiller and replaced a considerable amount of piping and air handlers in Richards’ HVAC system to improve ventilation, Roberts said.
“We have worked to improve the airflow and exhaust in all buildings,” Roberts said in an email to staff about the new testing efforts. “We have been told that the best way to mitigate high radon levels is to ventilate, ventilate, ventilate.”
How radon appears
Kent Shadley, Alliance Environmental Group vice president for field services, said radon can enter structures in a variety of ways — through floor drains, cracks in floors, sump pumps and even areas where utility lines enter a building.
Radon levels may also move around and fluctuate depending on a building’s ventilation system, he said.
Looking at BCSC’s radon numbers from five years ago, Shadley said it is not uncommon to see higher radon levels in certain parts of buildings but not the entire building, particularly when testing is done on an empty facility when there is minimal air circulating, as was the case during the school system’s fall break in 2013.
Results that show one room or one area of a building with higher radon levels can indicate that the ventilation system is out of balance, and that it needs to be rebalanced so air flow reaches that area more efficiently, he said.
On large buildings, newly installed ventilation systems can go out of balance in as little as six months, Shadley said.
The new set of tests will be done when the BCSC buildings are fully occupied with air handling systems fully operating, he said.
Much has changed in the philosophy of radon testing over the past five years, Shadley said.
While the short-term testing at 48 hours can provide some answers, professionals now often recommend a long-term test over at least 90 days where the air flow can be tracked and radon levels averaged out for the entire building, he said.
Short-term testing is used to find areas that might be generating higher radon levels, and then the HVAC system is rebalanced to counter the air flow issue, he said. A long-term test after that can indicate if further mitigation is necessary, he said.
Shadley predicted BCSC officials will learn much more from the next round of testing, as it will be done on buildings with ventilation systems fully operational.
“We will learn a lot more with this scenario,” he said.
In addition to the additional radon testing, Roberts and Boezeman announced that BCSC has completed testing of all faucets and water sources in the BCSC system for lead and have a clean bill of health from the Indiana Finance Authority Environmental Program.
The school corporation was not required to test for lead in the water, but did so voluntarily to ensure student and staff safety, Roberts said.
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National Radon Hotline: Purchase radon test kits by phone at 800-SOS-RADON (800-767-7236)
National Radon Helpline: Get help for your radon questions at 800-55-RADON or 800-557-2366.
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The following improvements in air quality, ventilation, heating and air conditioning have been completed at the following nine Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. schools since 2013:
CSA Lincoln Elementary School
2015: Return fans and drives installed and reprogrammed building management system.
2018: New cooling tower installed, and piping related to cooling tower.
Schmitt Elementary School
2015: Improved classroom ventilation.
2017: New chiller installed along with related piping.
2018: Three wall fan coil units with piping installed.
Smith Elementary School
2014: New chiller, boilers, vertical air-handling room units and piping for most of the building was installed.
2015: Improved classroom ventilation.
Northside Middle School
2016: Water cooled chiller rebuild completed.
Parkside Elementary School
2016: Chiller rebuild complete and new cooling tower and related piping installed.
Southside Elementary School
2014: New steam boilers, condensation station and steam converter installed.
2017: All steam traps rebuilt or replaced, barometric dampers installed over the gym and new exhaust fan installed for the basement.
Richards Elementary
2016: New chiller installed and new power head installed on boiler.
2018: Chiller controls upgraded.
McDowell Adult Education Center
2014: New rooftop units, classroom ventilators and piping installed.
2018: HVAC upgrades in cafeteria and library.
Administration building
2016: Wireless pump controls installed on chiller.
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"We have been told that the best way to mitigate high radon levels is to ventilate, ventilate, ventilate."
— Jim Roberts, BCSC superintendent
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