Investigation into mercury spill continues

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2000 | 9:22 a.m.

Bob Sack, the Washoe District Health Department's environmental supervisor, said his employees found mercury contaminated soil beneath a storm drain outlet that empties into the slough. The slough drains into Steamboat Creek which in turn empties into the Truckee River east of Sparks.

The storm drain outlet is a few hundred yards away from a building rented by Aetron Corp. Last week, health department officials cleaned up several gallons of visible elemental mercury from Aetron's parking lot, from around its loading dock, its landscaped areas and two nearby storm drain inlets, Sack said.

The company repairs and services computer equipment, though mercury was apparently used inside the business for an unrelated activity, Sack said without elaborating.

He said the spill is also being investigated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"We're not sure how it got outside," Sack told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "That is part of the criminal investigation."

Last week, health officials evacuated 11 employees and closed down the business until the mercury was cleaned up. Some of the material was apparently tracked into the business by employees.

Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Enforcement is also investigating. Rich Meier, an industrial hygienist with Nevada OSHE, said it could take several weeks for his agency to complete its work.

Mercury affects the central nervous system and in severe cases causes irreversible brain damage. Most mercury poisoning in humans comes from eating contaminated fish.

Washoe County health officials learned about the contamination from an anonymous tip two weeks ago. The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection got a similar anonymous tip two months ago. On Nov. 24, two investigators from NDEP's Bureau of Waste Management inspected the business but did not find anything suspicious, the bureau's chief Dave Emme said.

"Where this mercury processing was found, that equipment was concealed by piled up computers," Emme said.