by Michele Catahay, KUAM NewsFriday, March 28, 2008 Subscribe to Michele's newsfeed
The other nine schools deemed unsafe and unsanitary by the Attorney General's Health and Safety Task Force should beware because the AG and regulatory agencies may show up unannounced. Environmental health administrator from the Department of Public Health Tom Nadeau says the issues most common in the schools include inadequate ventilation, an inadequate number of toilet facilities and handwashing sinks, along with the lack of water fountains in the schools."The nine other schools that we visited," Nadeau noted, "They were noticed and informed of the violations, but it wasn't to the extent where it required a shut down, if you will. But we will go back and make sure the requirements have been met and if necessary, we will take appropriate action." As for whether hazardous wastes, according to Guam Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lorilee Crisostomo, the Task Force hasn't found any hazardous wastes in the other nine schools, but there are other concerns.She explained, "In regards to the other nine schools, there's about three schools where we did see some leaks with the pipelines, and so our Safe Drinking Water Program is going to have a second inspection to look to see if they did correct the problem because they were alerted they had some leaks in the piping systems."