All News Releases By Date

EPA Releases Final Report on Air Toxics Near the Riverside Elementary School in Reading, Pa.

Release Date: 11/09/2010
Contact Information: Bonnie Smith, 215-814-5543. [email protected]

PHILADELPHIA (November 9, 2010) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made available today its final report on monitoring for air toxics near the Riverside Elementary School in Reading, Pa. The report, posted on the agency’s website at https://www.epa.gov/schoolair/schools.html, concludes that EPA found no concern for short- or long-term health risks from air toxics, specifically hexavalent chromium, outside
the school.

Riverside Elementary School is one of 63 schools in 22 states where EPA monitored outdoor air as part of the agency’s Schools Air Toxics Monitoring initiative, designed to help EPA and state environmental agencies understand whether long-term exposure to air toxics poses health concerns for children and staff at the schools.

EPA selected the Riverside Elementary School because of its proximity to a steel mill that emits air toxics and computer models which determined hexavalent chromium may be present at elevated levels in the outdoor air. Because no concentrations of concern were found at the school, air monitoring there has been discontinued.

To see a listing of all of the schools monitored in this initiative: https://www.epa.gov/schoolair/schools.html