Health risk of soil in military housing assessed Published Dec. 10, 2007 By By Senior Airman Brian Stives 366th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho -- The 366th Civil Engineer Squadron, 366th Aeromedical-Dental Squadron Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight, Air Combat Command and Air Force Institute of Operational Health recently assessed the health risk of chlordane in the soil in military family housing on Mountain Home Air Force Base and confirmed that the housing construction has not exposed base residents to unacceptable levels of chlordane. Since 2003, the military family housing areas on Mountain Home Air Force Base have been undergoing phased improvements. Old houses were demolished making way for new construction and the issue of chlordane in the soil began to surface. "Chlordane is a pesticide that was commonly used throughout the United States primarily in agriculture and used to control termites below the foundations of wooden buildings," said Lt. Col. Mark Smallwood, 366th ADS commander. "Production and use of chlordane was banned after 1988. The last use of chlordane at Mountain Home Air Force Base was in 1982 when it was applied in the soil under and adjacent to housing foundations in the Oasis neighborhood. "When chlordane was applied more than 25 years ago, it was injected well below the soil surface," said Colonel Smallwood. "Recent construction projects in the new housing areas have moved and exposed some of the soil." Chlordane sticks strongly to the soil and can persist for several years beneath the surface. It doesn't move through the soil or dissolve easily in water and chlordane can degrade within a few days once exposed to air and sunlight. "Potential exposure can occur from eating crops grown in soil containing chlordane, touching the soil containing chlordane with bare hands, eating soil containing chlordane or breathing air close to large amounts of exposed chlordane," said Maj. Carl Champion, 366th ADS Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight commander. "To reduce the risks of exposure, construction managers have kept the soil movement to a minimum, wet the soil that needed to be moved to reduce dust and covered the areas with landscaping," said Colonel Smallwood. "The soil in base housing is typically covered with barriers, such as sod, bark and rocks so children are unlikely to be exposed to the bare soil. The majority of the chlordane-containing soil was pushed into the holes created by the old housing foundations and covered; however, some of this soil may have moved from its original location during the construction process. To assess how this affected chlordane levels, more than 30 soils samples were taken in July and September across four acres of the completed areas in the Phase 4 and 5 military housing areas. The results show an average concentration of less the .075 parts per million (ppm). As a comparison, the Environmental Protection Agency deems that less than 1.6 ppm in the soil is an acceptable risk over a lifetime. The average results from the soil samples were less the one-twentieth of the EPA goal. In addition to existing control measures the base and construction managers have taken to prevent exposure, the following precautions can be taken to prevent exposure: · Use planters or containers and purchase potting soil instead of gardening in the soil around houses in military family housing. · Maintain the sod, rocks and bark mulch in the areas around houses · Workers in the construction area should minimize direct contact with the soil and use gloves if they are directly handling the soil. "The health and welfare of all the residents and personnel working on base are the priority during the efforts to improve the base housing areas," said Colonel Smallwood. "The presence of chlordane is not unique to Mountain Home Air Force Base. Chlordane was applied correctly before it was banned and base agencies are working with state and federal authorities to ensure the proper steps are taken to minimize the exposure and assure there are no unacceptable risks taken. The construction teams have taken all the available precautions to suppress the dust and cover the areas when construction is completed." For more information about the health risk assessment, call the 366th ADS Bioenvironmental Engineering office at 828-7270.