Public Health Assessment for Gardner-Roussel Park and Dr. Norman W. Crisp Elementary School (a/k/a Dr. Norman W. Crisp School/Gardner Roussell Park) Nashua, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. Region 1

摘要

The Gardner-Roussel Park/Dr. Norman W. Crisp Elementary School site is located on Arlington Road in Nashua. Gardner-Roussel Park is a public park with recreational facilities, and is abutted by the Dr. Norman W. Crisp Elementary School. The site is bordered on all sides by residential neighborhoods. In November 2002, the Nashua Department of Public Works found polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the soil while preparing to renovate the park. They contacted the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to further investigate the potential for exposure to PAHs in the park. DHHS completed this Public Health Assessment under its cooperative agreement with ATSDR. PAHs are the major contaminants of concern at the site and exist at very low levels in surface soils in the park and near the school. DHHS evaluated the likelihood that exposure to these contaminants at the site could cause cancer and found that there was no significant cancer risk. Not only does the landfill upon which the park was built contain the waste from small-scale incineration, but it also contains the remains of a large fire that took place in Nashua in the 1920s.