PHOENIX, AZ, Nov. 18, 2008 -- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Director Steve Owens announced that the department has completed cleanups of leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) at sites in 11 school districts around the state.
The cleanup was part of ADEQ's innovative School Assistance Initiative, which was launched a year ago to help schools across Arizona clean up contamination from USTs on school property and to prevent future leaks from the tanks. The program is a joint effort by ADEQ's Tank Programs Division and the department's Office of Children's Environmental Health.
"This unique partnership between ADEQ and schools and school districts throughout the state has been tremendously successful," Director Owens said. "This effort not only helped clean up the environment, it also protected our children from potential exposure to contamination. And it has saved schools a lot of money, since ADEQ cleaned up the sites and has given the schools technical assistance about how to maintain their USTs in the future."
ADEQ is using money from the State Assurance Fund, which is the state UST remediation fund, to clean up the contaminated soil and groundwater at the school facilities. ADEQ also has provided and will continue to provide technical assistance to schools and school districts to insure that USTs owned and operated by the schools and districts are properly maintained in accordance with the law to prevent future leakage.
>> Click here for a list of the schools and school districts where cleanups have been completed or are in progress [pdf]
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