Are there ANY streets/ areas in Spring Valley that are safe (from chemical weapons)...???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why risk it?

This. I know two families who lived there growing up. In one family, both parents died of cancer by the time we got to college. Not worth it.

[Anonymous]

It’s really pretty; the developer made the streets curvilinear following the hilly landscape and that gives it its bucolic feel. It’s easy to suspend disbelief and be lulled into what the real estate agent and the seller want you to hear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford it, buy on Lowell Street in Kent instead. All the beauty of SV, no mustard gas.

Check the flight path. Lowell is very expensive and the planes are getting worse.

Particulate matter- from living under a flight path or near a highway- also poses risks. I don’t think we fully understand them yet. We don’t live in this neighborhood but I’m becoming concerned with our proximity to highly trafficked roads. It’s all very scary and the risks aren’t fully known, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford it, buy on Lowell Street in Kent instead. All the beauty of SV, no mustard gas.

Check the flight path. Lowell is very expensive and the planes are getting worse.

Particulate matter- from living under a flight path or near a highway- also poses risks. I don’t think we fully understand them yet. We don’t live in this neighborhood but I’m becoming concerned with our proximity to highly trafficked roads. It’s all very scary and the risks aren’t fully known, IMO.

Air purifiers help a ton with pm but for heavy metals, not so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We looked at a georgeous, bucolic house at Spring Valley which allegedly had so few “anomalies” that they didn’t need addressing. I will never forget the smell of that basement and soil. It wasn’t musty. Walked away heartbroken, bought in another great NW neighborhood. It sold at a small discount.

Later we were told by several agents they would never buy there and heard of families finding all sorts of toxins other than arsenic in the soil. Then we learned about the story of Geza Teleki and a few others, just tragic. Why that could not all be known upfront is confounding.

You really have to want to know to inform yourself. I think it would be best if all the information was more readily available upfront, then you have plenty of people who care and plenty who don’t. Each to their own.

What was the smell? You could smell the chemicals?

[Anonymous]

Mustard? Sorry, that’s ghoulish humor.

I don’t know but no one in the household has forgotten it. I did later read that contaminated soils can have distinctive smells. I also read someplace that some of the soil from there was taken as infill someplace else but smelled so bad that the trucks were turned away.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it was the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)?

They found a bunch of stuff. See here.
https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/springvalley/consult_082697.html

[Anonymous]

Maybe chlorinated solvents? That would smell like the Drycleaners. They found those in indoor air where they tested.

More importantly they noted pathway of exposure from soil gasses “beneath” the house, to a question posed earlier.

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/GlenbrookRoad/Spring_Valley_FUDS_4825_Glenbrook_Road_HC(final)_V2_08-26-2016_508.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mustard? Sorry, that’s ghoulish humor.

I don’t know but no one in the household has forgotten it. I did later read that contaminated soils can have distinctive smells. I also read someplace that some of the soil from there was taken as infill someplace else but smelled so bad that the trucks were turned away.

That is in fact true. See the bottom of page 6.

https://www.nab.usace.army.mil/Portals/63/docs/SpringValley/Meeting_Packages/Spring%20Valley%20January%202021%20RAB%20Conference%20Call%20Minutes.pdf?ver=TRfzh3dvylthVx16BJn5aw%3D%3D

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mustard? Sorry, that’s ghoulish humor.

I don’t know but no one in the household has forgotten it. I did later read that contaminated soils can have distinctive smells. I also read someplace that some of the soil from there was taken as infill someplace else but smelled so bad that the trucks were turned away.

That is in fact true. See the bottom of page 6.

https://www.nab.usace.army.mil/Portals/63/docs/SpringValley/Meeting_Packages/Spring%20Valley%20January%202021%20RAB%20Conference%20Call%20Minutes.pdf?ver=TRfzh3dvylthVx16BJn5aw%3D%3D

Worth reading these minutes. This is dark stuff. I’ve been reading about it for years on DCUM but never really understood the extent to which attempts were made to fix it (unsuccessfully) nor the sheer number of agencies and groups that have played hot potato with responsibility for the problem.

[Anonymous]

We live within one of the boundaries shown on the map. I'm trying to research how we'd go about testing our soil, but if anyone has advice on who to go to -- and what to ask for -- please advise.

[Anonymous]

My first call would be to USACE. The point of contact for further information is Project Manager Dan Noble, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District at [phone] or [e-mail].

I would ask them to not only test for Arsenic but for the EPA 13 pollutants (RCRA 13) plus perchlorate and pesticides if possible. The 13 are:

Antimony (Sb)
Arsenic (As)
Beryllium (Be)
Cadmium (Cd)
Chromium (Cr)
Copper (Cu)
Lead (Pb)
Mercury (Hg)
Nickel (Ni)
Selenium (Se)
Silver (Ag)
Thallium (Ti)
Zinc (Zn)

Typically they would stick the small probes (looks like bulb planting probe) in 6-8 places and combine a soil sample. The 4/5 cups of soil is then analyzed in a lab.

If the USACE won’t do it, then a national lab like Cornell Soil Health Lab or EMSL which also has a local lab should be able to do it or guide you further. UDC might have something too (they have regular agricultural and arsenic and lead for sure, or used to anyway).

Cornell offers EPA RCRA 8 for $30. You could explain the history and ask for the additional heavy metals and analyses. At the very least they could guide you where to get it.

We are thinking of growing vegetables but as NW anyway is basically urban land with not much information on soil in addition to the regular soil analysis (Cornell offers packages), would want to test for pesticides, heavy metals and PFAS. A lot of people just do raised beds instead.

In Spring Valley, maybe you want to test for RCRA 8 but also Thallium, Berrylium and perchlorate. Maybe some pesticide components they shot around. Here’s the link to the Cornell lab:

https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.cornell.edu/dist/7/9922/files/2021/11/14_Heavy_Metal_Contamination.pdf

I found the Cornell lab through the UMD extension who used to test soil but no longer do.

If that fails, there are accredited commercial labs like the one above. They tend to be very helpful if you call them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a meeting at AU tonight for those interested.

The October 2023 RAB meeting is set for Tuesday, October 10, at 7:00 p.m. at American University's Don Myers Building, 3501 Nebraska Ave, Washington, DC, 20016.

https://www.nab.usace.army.mil/Home/Spring-Valley/

What happened at the meeting last night?

[Anonymous]

Some of the wording in the documents makes it sound like all problematic properties have been remediated. But didn’t the government only test if it got permission from owners? I don’t totally understand how these properties were identified for testing.

[Anonymous]

They didn’t test beyond arsenic. They remediated arsenic with ferns. They didn’t remediate many properties. They didn’t look under houses or driveways. Sounds good!