State says Halawa housing cleaned of mercury
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Nearly a month after high levels of liquid mercury were found throughout a Halawa housing project, Department of Health officials yesterday declared the project free of contamination.
The mercury was discovered at the Pu'uwai Momi public housing project March 12. The contamination was widespread, as investigators found mercury in common areas and in 71 of the project's 260 apartments.
Health officials closed the project while they conducted a massive cleanup. Many of the nearly 1,100 residents were forced to find alternate housing and some families had to live in a Red Cross emergency shelter at Halawa District Park Gymnasium for nearly a week.
Yesterday, the Department of Health shut down its emergency command center at Pu'uwai Momi. All residents that were evacuated have returned.
Only one unit remains closed because of high levels of contamination, said Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo. But she said that family has been relocated to another unit in the project.
Okubo said contamination in unit 12-F was so bad that the floor will have to be replaced. Other units required extensive cleaning of floors, walls, furniture, appliances and personal items.
The state hired Pacific Environmental Corp. to cleanup Pu'uwai Momi and neighboring Makalapa Park. So far, the cost to the state is about $250,000.
Gary Gill, deputy director for environmental health, said the monthlong effort has "exhausted" his staff.
"Everyone is relieved that we are closing this phase of the operation," Gill said. "We have successfully removed the threat to public health and protected the residents of Pu'uwai Momi."
The mercury was found at Pu'uwai Momi after an 'Aiea Elementary School student brought the liquid metal to school.
Officials determined that he and other children who live at Pu'uwai Momi had collected an undetermined amount of mercury from an abandoned pump house near Pearl Harbor's Richardson Field.
The pump house belongs to the state Department of Defense, which is overseeing the cleanup with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
There were no reports of illnesses associated with the mercury contamination. Health officials tested 221 Pu'uwai Momi residents and only two showed slightly elevated levels of mercury.
Health officials are urging residents who have mercury to turn it in and not dispose of it in the trash or pour it down a drain. For information on proper disposal, call the city's Household Hazardous Waste Information Line at 523-4474.
