ATSDR - Tooele Army Depot Site in Utah

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ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

ATSDR Releases Final Health Assessment on Contamination
Associated with the Tooele Army Depot Site in Utah

Finding is No Apparent Health Hazard

For Immediate Release: September 11, 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, today released a final public health assessment (PHA) that investigated public health concerns associated with environmental contaminants from the Tooele Army Depot (TEAD) site in Tooele, Utah near Salt Lake City.

The PHA finds 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.
Exposures 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, installing off-site monitoring wells and reducing the maximum weight of materials detonated in the OB/OD area. Further actions and recommendations are available in the final PHA.

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

Tooele Public Library
128 West East Vine St.
Tooele, Utah 84074

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

Tooele County Bookmobile Library
429 East Main St.
Grantsville, Utah 84029

Marriott Library
University of Utah
Document Division
327 South Marriott
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112

Community members seeking information on the procedures or the content of the public health consultation 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.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, ATSDR, a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, evaluates the human health effects of exposure to hazardous substances. Established by Congress in 1980 under the Superfund law, ATSDR conducts public health assessments at each of the sites on the EPA National Priorities List, as well as other sites when petitioned. Headquartered in Atlanta, ATSDR is staffed by more than 400 health professionals including epidemiologists, physicians, toxicologists, engineers and public health educators.

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

Back to ATSDR Home page

Updated by R. Searfoss September 11, 2003
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
770-488-0700 or e-mail (news media)