Milford, New Hampshire Police Station Contaminated? or not?

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August 23, 1999

Milford police employees unsatisfied with environmental tests

Police department employees who believe their building is contaminated

are pushing for more answers, despite assurances from state and federal

officials that the site is safe.

The workers believe the source of their headaches, nausea and dizziness is a

federal Superfund site next to their building. Tests at the former Savage

Municipal Water Supply site in 1983 revealed contaminated groundwater, and

the area is being cleaned up by the federal Environmental Protection Agency

and state officials.

The EPA tested the air in the police building last year and sent the results

to the state for evaluation. The state Bureau of Health Risk Assessment

concluded the building had inadequate ventilation but said contaminant

levels were too low to harm anyone's health, even if someone worked there

for a lifetime.

Some employees don't accept those conclusions. Dickson, the

department's secretary, wants the town to pay for Police Department

employees to have health screenings.

" Everybody's kind of uneasy about it, " she said. " We're not growing three

eyes or anything right now. Our concern is what is going to happen to us 10

or 15 years in the future. "

Dickson said she frequently gets headaches about an hour after arriving at

work. The pain grows stronger throughout the day, she said.

" It's been going on for a long time, " she said. " We've been in this building

for 10 years, and we've just recently put two and two together that a lot of

us are having these same problems. "

According to state officials, contaminants in the groundwater below the

police station are at such low levels, it would be impossible for them to

migrate upward and cause a health concern.

" What we found was in concentrations way below any kind of level where we

would even begin to suspect any health effects or any kind of tie-ins, " said

Dennis Pinski of Bureau of Health Risk Assessment. " The data just doesn't

show it. "

Meanwhile, town voters have approved spending $ 45,000 on a new heating,

ventilation and air-conditioning system, which is expected to be installed

next month.

But acting police Chief Fred , who also gets frequent headaches, said

he feels like he and his employees are being kept in the dark.

" I still maintain that one of the biggest problems is there's a lack of

communication to the employees here, " he said. " If they employees are wrong,

they're wrong because they have not been supplied the proper information.

We're the ones who are working here and we're always the last to know. "