A West High School auto-shop teacher's dumping of solvents into the gutter last year has already cost the school more than $22,000 in environmental cleanup costs.
Now come the fines, which are an additional $5,000 - and a mandatory hazardous-waste training program, which will cost another $5,000."It's been very painful to us," said Kay Pope, director of purchasing for the Salt Lake School District.
On May 23, 1994, an auto-shop teacher poured about 75 gallons of solvent-contaminated liquids into a drain that eventually washed into a gutter on the northwest corner of the school, about 400 W. 300 North. "It was not a wise thing to do," said Pope.
In all, about 11 classifications of solvents, such as toluene and dichlorobenzene, were spilled. Solvents are known to cause cancer, harm the nervous system and are difficult to clean from water and soils.
"Luckily for us, leaves and trash had plugged the storm drain so (the solvents) just ran out into the street," said Pope. Had the solvents entered the stormwater system, it could have added tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of cleanup.
A passer-by noticed the strong odors of the solvents and called the fire department, which dispatched hazardous materials units to the scene. Investigators traced the solvents to the school and required the school to remediate the spill.
The cleanup required the disposal of 10 drums of solid waste and nine drums of liquid waste, which were shipped to a hazardous waste firm in Alabama.
School officials fired the teacher but later reinstated him after he showed that he was just following the directions of the chemicals' distributor, Pope said.
State environmental regulators proposed fining the school $10,000 for the spill, but school officials negotiated it down to $7,500. That fine is scheduled to be satisfied with a $5,000 cash payment and a districtwide environmental training project to prevent further spills.
"Hopefully, their training program will be extensive enough that other schools will learn from their mistakes," said Scott Anderson, a manager for the state Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste.