Air, Soil, and Dust Testing Results Released for Canyon Elementary
By Laurel Busby
News & Information Editor
(The Canyon News approach to coverage of environmental issues can be found here.)
The results of TRC Solutions, Inc.’s Feb. 15 testing of soil, air, and dust at Canyon Charter Elementary School have been released.
The soil tests at 10 locations were taken from planter areas, play areas, the community garden area, and exposed and stockpiled soil from the current construction area, according to TRC’s Mar. 18 report. In addition, indoor wipe testing was conducted in 12 locations, including a selection of classrooms in the main classroom buildings, portable classrooms, the front office, the assembly room, and the library. Air samples were taken from two classrooms in the primary classroom buildings, one portable classroom, the assembly building, and the outdoor lunch area.
While toxic metals, such as arsenic and lead, were detected in small amounts in certain samples, these “metals were not detected in any of the student-contact surface samples” for the indoor wipe testing, according to the report. Because the amounts and ratios of the metal presence are consistent with pre-fire levels, the report said that the “lead and arsenic in dust is likely a result of soil-dust deposition over time and does not suggest impacts or deposition from wildfire activity.” In addition, for soil samples, “concentrations of metals are generally consistent with existing soil analytical data collected from the Site in 2019 and 2024.”
According to the LAUSD website, samples were collected at both Canyon Charter Elementary School and Paul Revere Charter Middle School, then tested for antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, silver, thallium, vanadium, zinc, and mercury, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and asbestos, according to LAUSD’s website. In addition, “indoor air was also screened for carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and volatiles. A survey for particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) was also conducted.”
The full report is posted at https://drive.google.com/file/d/19DZ3-iPreHzRnYClg3VqmWMye5Rjrn16/view. Updated and past testing results as well as current air quality at five Palisades schools are also available under the School Updates tab at the following link: https://schoolupdates.lausd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=4420364&type=d&pREC_ID=2654266. Further information about LAUSD testing is available at https://www.lausd.org/Page/20936.
The report concludes with the following information and recommendations: “Lead detections in indoor dust are significantly below EPA thresholds for lead in indoor dust. Indoor dust samples, with the exception of lead, do not have established regulatory values for comparison…. The ratio of lead to arsenic in indoor dust (approximately 3.3) aligns with the ratio of lead to arsenic in soil from the current investigation as well as pre-fire historical soil sample results, which may suggest that lead and arsenic detected in indoor dust is reflective of general background levels at the Site. Other metals including barium, chromium, cobalt, copper, nickel, and vanadium are commonly used in building materials, such as stainless-steel components, primary or secondary metals used in galvanized coatings such as those found in the interior of the HVAC ducts, and in metal coating and paints. The low-level concentrations of metals identified in sample locations associated with building materials, including painted metal cabinets and galvanized air ducts, is expected and does not suggest deposition from wildfires.
“Detections of VOCs and PAHs in air sample results were generally consistent between the indoor and outdoor air samples, suggesting that detections of these compounds likely reflect local and/or regional air quality conditions. Many VOCs, including, but not limited to benzene, toluene, xylenes, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene and ethylbenzene are compounds commonly found in urban air and are typically associated with petroleum products such as vehicle fuels. The presence of these compounds cannot be attributed to wildfires. Exposure concentrations at the Site do not suggest an increased health risk. While broader regional air quality concerns may exist, there is no indication that these issues are unique to the Site, and they should not be interpreted as Site-related risks.
“The data collected from soil, indoor dust, and air samples indicates that residual impacts to the Site in soil, dust, and indoor air as related to the nearby recent Palisades wildfires are not considered a health concern at this time. The results indicate that the active measures currently taken by LAUSD are sufficient, and TRC does not have any recommendations for further action at this time.”
