Mercury danger lingers

It’s the invisible threat of the mercury contamination that is keeping 1,100 Pu‘uwai Momi residents on hold at Halawa District Park gym although some may be returning today.

“Our primary concern is exposure to mercury vapors,” state Health Director Bruce Anderson said. “Under warm conditions or if mercury is heated, vapors accumulate in enclosed areas.”

For that reason, the real threat is the mercury at the 27-building, 260-unit project on Kohomua Street that has been tracked indoors, mostly by children playing with the metallic element, or others who have been walking around the complex.

“These are tiny, tiny droplets that are difficult to clean up,” Anderson said. “The only real treatment is to eliminate exposure so that’s our primary objective.”

The cleanup includes air monitoring. Units that are affected are being cleared of rugs and other items that may be sources of vapors.

Around-the-clock cleanup has been going on since midafternoon Monday. Heath officials are optimistic that some residents could return home today by late afternoon. Their movements around the complex, however, will be restricted.

Department of Health spokeswoman Janice Okubo said yesterday that five of the project’s 27 buildings were expected to be cleared of mercury by late last night and the families would be allowed to return today. But the remaining buildings and their 212 units are being inspected in phases and aren’t expected to be cleared until the end of this week at the earliest, Okubo said.

Okubo said 79 people, most of them children, had gone to area hospitals as of yesterday to be examined for mercury exposure. There were no reports of serious illnesses relating to mercury poisoning, she said.

Many of Pu‘uwai Momi’s 1,100 residents were forced to leave their homes after elemental mercury was found in homes, on parking lots and grassy areas. The mercury was brought to the project by children who collected the liquid metal at an abandoned pumphouse near Pearl Harbor’s Richardson Field last weekend.

The mercury scare also closed ‘Aiea Elementary School yesterday to allow hazardous material personnel to check for contamination. Many children who live at Pu‘uwai Momi attend the school.

The Department of Education declared the school free of mercury and classes resumed today.

But for hundreds of Pu‘uwai Momi residents, it may take a few more days before life returns to normal. While most were able to find alternate housing, about 60 people had to sleep at a Red Cross emergency shelter at the HÅlawa District Park gymnasium the past two nights.

Pu‘uwai Momi manager Robyn Gapol said yesterday that housing officials were going door to door to find out how many residents remained in their units.

Last night, dozens of kids played basketball in the gym while others slept on cots. Some families used large towels for curtains to provide a bit of privacy.

Katie Williams was about to spend her second night with her seven children and granddaughter. Williams said she’s frustrated because no one is saying when she can return home.

She also believes she was led to the evacuation shelter under false pretenses.
“They told us that we’re gonna be tested, so we all came up here. But there was no testing,” Williams said. “We all could have stayed home.”

No one is certain how much mercury was brought into the project since Saturday, but it appears to be a substantial amount.

Seven of 18 units identified as questionable had been processed yesterday but only five of those had passed air monitoring. One unit in Building 12 was found to be badly contaminated.

The Navy turned over the pumphouse land to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources in August 1962.

In February 2000, the land was conveyed to the state Department of Defense. Defense spokesman Capt. Charles Anthony said the source of the mercury and the amount removed have yet to be determined. He said the abandoned pumphouse had been designated by the federal government for cleanup under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program for Formerly Used Defense Sites. But Anthony wouldn’t say when the cleanup would occur.