PVHS cleanup will take months

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PVHS cleanup will take months

By HENRY BREAN, Managing Editor February 08, 2002

It will take about two months - not the early and apparently optimistic

estimate of two to three weeks - to remove toxic mold from Pahrump Valley

High School, according to Tom McManus, president of the Las Vegas firm that

is overseeing the work.

The new estimate comes on the heels of a decision by the county commission

to set aside $1 million for mold abatement work at PVHS and preventative

measures around the Nye County School District.

McManus, who heads up Environmental Health Services, said the main building

at PVHS will remain closed throughout the removal process - a decision that

was apparently made by district officials with the full support of EHS and

Valentine Construction, which is doing the work. " It makes our job a lot

easier, " McManus said, because the work can go on during school hours and

the workers do not need to be concerned about the safety of students.

Meanwhile, toxic mold has been found and eliminated from a small, isolated

area of J.G. Elementary School. The contaminated area was located in

a custodian's closet just west of the gymnasium, where water leaked through

a light fixture and created a breeding ground for the fungus.

District Maintenance and Operations Supervisor Don Brod said the leak was

fairly recent, probably from the last time Pahrump received any significant

precipitation.

Students have no access to the area in question, which was tested following

the cleanup on Feb. 1. No other abnormal levels of mold have been detected

elsewhere at J.G. , and both McManus and district officials agreed

that there was never any scientific or practical reason to close the school.

Air samples taken in the small custodian's area showed " very high levels " of

mold spores, McManus said, but in a much smaller and more easily abated

area. " The high school is much, much worse, " he said.

Small amounts of mold have also been found - this time as a result of visual

inspection rather than through air sampling - in a coach's office at Hafen

Elementary School and in a storage area at the northern end of the Southern

District Office in Pahrump. " You didn't have to test, " said Brod. " You could

see it. "

Both areas have been closed off so the mold can be cleaned up, but Brod

downplayed the seriousness of the situations there. " It's nothing drastic.

The air samples were clean, " he said of Hafen. " There's a little bit of it

there, and we need to get it cleaned up. "

Also in the coming days and weeks, officials from the district and EHS plan

to conduct inspections at every school building in Nye County. The

inspections are expected to be thorough and pay particularly close attention

to areas that may have sustained water damage in the past.

There are more than 100,000 different species of mold, including at least

1,000 species commonly found in the U.S. Mold is present everywhere, both

indoors and outdoors. Three components are required for it to grow: mold

spores, water and organic materials such as carbon, which are found in many

modern building materials.

©Pahrump Valley Times 2002