The Park City School District is facing a hefty bill for soil cleanup behind Treasure Mountain Junior High, a public school for eighth and ninth graders. But the bill could have been far higher.
The work is required because the stored soil piles contain lead and arsenic from mining work in the 19th century. Like much of downtown Park City, the piles are in an area governed by environmental codes regarding handling and storage.
Exposure to lead and arsenic has long been known to adversely affect health; arsenic has been linked to heart disease and some cancers, and lead ingestion, especially for preschool-aged children, can impair growth and development.
School district Chief Operating Officer Mike Tanner told the Park City Board of Education during its regular meeting Aug. 15 that if soil testing determined the piles qualified as ‘hazardous,’ it could cost $13 million to properly dispose of them.
The district now estimates it will cost $3 million or more, thanks to a notification from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, which informed the district this week that while one area qualified as hazardous, the rest was merely contaminated.
See the full report from The Salt Lake Tribune here.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.