ATSDR - Health Assessment of the Tooele Army Depot Site in Utah

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ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT
ATSDR Releases Health Assessment of the
Tooele Army Depot Site in Utah for Public Comment

For Immediate Release: June 24, 2003

ATLANTA - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has issued for review and public comment a public health assessment (PHA) for the Tooele Army Depot (TEAD) site in Tooele, Utah near Salt Lake City.

The public comment period is from June 24 through July 25. The purpose of this PHA is to evaluate potential sources of contamination associated with TEAD and to identify potential exposure pathways in the surrounding communities.

ATSDR's review of available information indicates that people residing near TEAD have not been, and are not currently being, exposed to site-related contaminants at levels that could result in adverse health effects.

After evaluating available environmental information, ATSDR has drawn the following conclusions:

Exposure to contaminants in groundwater from on-site drinking-water wells poses no past or current public health hazard.
Exposure to contaminants in groundwater from off-site municipal or private wells poses no past, current or apparent future public health hazard. Private wells located within one mile of the northeast corner of TEAD may be affected by a trichloroethylene (TCE) plume; but water quality is appropriate for irrigation, stock watering and industrial uses.
Exposure to air contaminants from open burning/open detonation (OB/OD) activities do not pose a public health hazard for residents living in close proximity to the depot. However OB/OD activities prior to 1990 were conducted on a larger scale. Because sampling data before 1990 is not available, ATSDR considers the public health hazard prior to that date to be indeterminate.

A public health action plan for Tooele Army Depot has been developed. Several health actions have been completed by the U.S. Army, such as installing a groundwater extraction system, analyzing the extent of off-site plume migration, reducing the maximum weight of materials detonated in the OB/OD area and installing off-site monitoring wells. Further actions and recommendations are available in the complete public health assessment.

The public health assessment may be reviewed at the following repositories:

Tooele Public Library
128 West East Vine St.
Tooele, Utah 84074
435-882-2182

Tooele Army Depot
Environmental Management Division
Building T-8
Tooele, Utah 84074
435-833-2760

Tooele County Bookmobile Library
429 East Main St.
Grantsville, Utah 84029
435-884-3703

Marriott Library
University of Utah
Document Division
327 South Marriott
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
801-581-8394

Comments on the public health assessment must be submitted in writing by July 25, 2003. Mail comments to:

Chief, Program Evaluation, Records and Information Services Branch
ATSDR
1600 Clifton Rd., NE (MS E-60)
Atlanta, GA 30333

Comments received during the public comment period, without the submitters' names, and ATSDR's responses to the comments will appear in an appendix to the final public health assessment. Names of those who submit comments, however, will be subject to release for requests made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

Community members seeking information on the procedures or the content of the PHA, or copies of the document, may contact Youlanda Outin, health communications specialist, or Sue Neurath, environmental health scientist in Atlanta, toll free at 1-888-422-8737. Callers should refer to the Tooele Army Depot site in Tooele, Utah.

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Members of the news media may request an interview with ATSDR staff by calling Elaine McEachern or Petro Kacur in the ATSDR Office of Policy and External Affairs at 770-488-0700.

Back to ATSDR Home page

This page updated by R. Searfoss May 25, 2003
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
770-488-0700 or e-mail (news media)