One of EH's first requests for help came from Christine Semple — a west Hamilton mom whose daughter attended St. Mary's High School. She was concerned about symptoms being reported by students who have some of their classes in portable classrooms located outside of the main school building. Students who spent time in the portables were reporting symptoms including nausea, fatigue, headaches, hair loss, nosebleeds, and severe menstrual cramps.

The health impacts experienced by the students prompted the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) and the City of Hamilton's Health Department to intervene last year. Subsequent MOE testing of air quality in the portable classrooms led to the conclusion that the problem was simply a matter of poor air circulation. However, even with the installation of air circulation systems, students continue to experience health problems. But neither the MOE nor Public Health has initiated any follow-up effort.

Parents want to find out why these health problems continue. They worry given that the land on which St. Mary's was built is a former industrial site. Investigations of this site and surrounding industrial properties prior to the construction of the school in 1999 confirmed that the soil and groundwater here was contaminated with a host of chemical compounds including trichloroethylene, benzene, and toluene. One of the adjacent properties underwent a very thorough clean-up at a cost of almost 10 million dollars while only 1.4 million was spent on the St. Mary's site clean-up — even though the original estimate was 5 to 7 million.

Environment Hamilton is helping concerned students and parents through our Community Environmental Advocacy Fund. The fund, established through Rennie Landfill fine money, allows us to provide support to citizens who need help undertaking detailed technical investigations of an environmental concern.

To this end we have retained a hydrogeologist to review all of the investigative studies and the remedial plans for St. Mary's and the properties on either side in order to determine whether an adequate investigation of the site was ever undertaken and whether an appropriate level of remediation occurred prior to construction of the school. Our aim is to determine whether contamination on the site may be the cause of the health impacts being experienced by students.

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