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First Data from EPA's WTC Cleaning and Testing Program Available on Web

Release Date: 10/22/2002
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(#02114) New York, N.Y. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will today begin putting data from its downtown residential cleaning and testing program on its Web site. Initial data from asbestos in air tests conducted in more than 250 homes will be available in table form on EPA's World Trade Center Web site. The initial results are encouraging, but the Agency can't draw broad conclusions from them because they represent only a fraction of the homes for which EPA will eventually have data. Out of the 255 homes for which there are validated results, only three exceeded EPA's stringent clearance criteria. Data displayed on the Web includes the total number of homes, for which there are validated results, that have been cleaned and tested or tested only, the number of those homes that were cleared and the number were not. This data will be updated regularly as cleaning and testing work progresses. In coming weeks, EPA will display data geographically - block by block - using on a clickable map. For requests for testing only, EPA has validated results from 108 homes that have been cleared using EPA's asbestos clearance criteria. Three homes did not clear, and EPA is in discussion with residents about appropriate cleanups. All 138 homes that were cleaned and tested, for which EPA has validated results, have passed. In addition, a half dozen homes - five from residences requesting testing only and one from a home requesting cleaning and testing - had results that could not be read by the laboratory. In these cases, cleaning or re-cleaning and retesting is being recommended to the residents. To date, the Agency does not have any validated results from surface wipe samples for metals and dioxin or for asbestos in air from common spaces.