Soil tested for pesticide in Hyannis school garden

June 24--HYANNIS -- Inside the unpainted picket fence of the community garden at Hyannis West Elementary School on Monday, David Bennett pushed down on a soil collection probe and twisted.

At the other end he pulled out clumps of soil and stuffed them into small glass jars labeled in black marker with "HynWest" and other identifiers.

"This is a very, very precautionary measure," he said.

Bennett, who is president of Bennett Environmental Associates Inc., was testing the soil in raised beds as well as the soil below the beds to make sure there was no danger from eating crops harvested from the new garden.

Last week, concerns were raised about the 2008 discovery of high levels of chlordane on the other side of the school, found after a 2007 oil spill from a boiler. Chlordane was once widely used as a pesticide but was banned in the U.S. in 1988 and is classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a possible human carcinogen.

The chlordane level in a catch basin on the property was high enough to prompt notification to the state Department of Environmental Protection and a $231,000 cleanup for both the chlordane and oil.

A follow-up risk assessment by Risk Management Inc. of Acton found "no significant risk" of harm to human health at the school based on sampling inside and outside of the building. However, the area where the garden is now was not tested since it was on the other side of the building.

The garden's organizer, Sue LaVallee, said the new soil brought in for the raised garden beds was donated by landscaping company S&J Exco Inc. It was put on top of existing grass, and a liner was installed around the sides, she said.

LaVallee said she had the existing soil in the area tested at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, primarily for lead, even though the vegetables were not going to be planted directly in the ground. School officials and LaVallee say they were aware of the chlordane discovery but between the raised beds and the extensive cleanup after the spill, they thought any harvest from the garden would be safe.

Bennett said chlordane is often found even in areas where it was used in accordance with labeling. The important thing is to make sure it doesn't exist at levels that are higher than normal or that could have effects on human health, he said.

"Nobody lives in a perfect world where there is no impact," he said.

Just last week, the state issued revised regulations for areas that have undergone a certain level of cleanup, requiring more stringent testing before gardens can be planted.

On Monday, Bennett collected eight samples from the healthy looking garden, including four from the soil in the raised beds and four from the ground directly beneath the beds.

"This being an area where we didn't take any samples from, we just want to make sure it's the same stuff," he said.

School and town records indicate chlordane was used at Hyannis West in the 1970s to treat for termites, but schools facilities director David Kanyock said Monday that the school district no longer uses any pesticides as part of an integrated pest management plan.

There are at least two other gardens at Barnstable schools, including at the Barnstable Community Horace Mann Charter Public School and West Villages Elementary School, Kanyock said.

The charter school's outgoing principal, Marilee Cantelmo, said there was a comprehensive soil test done for the garden, created in 2010.

"We do one every year when we're getting ready to do the garden," she said.

The test was extensive, she said, adding that she believes that if chlordane or any other contaminants of concern are in the soil, the test would have indicated as much.

West Villages Principal Kirk Gibbons did not respond to a message left at his office seeking comment for this story.

Barnstable Public Schools Superintendent Mary Czajkowski said she likely will ask that a comprehensive soil test be done at all of the schools with gardens to make sure there are no outstanding concerns.

"To me it's precautionary, and we're taking safety measures and doing our due diligence as well," she said.

Czajkowski and Kanyock said comprehensive soil testing now will take place at all school gardens that are planned in the future as well.

The test results from the samples collected Monday at Hyannis West should be available in about a week, Bennett said.

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