Adhesive runoff from the BHS track was discovered in the stadium’s retention pond on Thursday, Sep. 29.

After heavy rains, the latex adhesive used for track installation dissolved, traveling through the storm sewer line as far as the Beachwood-Pepper Pike border.

The latex adhesive, GenFlo 3966, is manufactured by Omnova Solutions, a company headquartered in Beachwood.

Workers planned to install layers of the latex rubber track and spray with adhesive on sunny days, which would allow them to dry. This protocol was not followed on the second or third layer of latex rubber.

“[The contractors] sprayed the adhesive without enough time for it to completely dry, and we had really heavy rains,” Superintendent Dr. Bob Hardis said, “And that’s when this adhesive dissolved in the water.”

The adhesive is water-soluble until given time to cure. After curing, that layer of the track would be impervious, but without enough time, the rain drained it into the retention pond.

Despite this mistake, Hardis said the most important issue was not whom to blame.

“We had an environmental problem that had to be dealt with, and we wanted to ensure along the way that there were no penalties financially to the district, because we are truly not responsible for this,” he said.

Hardis said the contractors took full responsibility and covered all costs.

The contaminated water in the retention pond has already been vacuumed into large tanks held by trucks in order to remove it from the area.

The school district was instructed by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to dam the retention pond in order to prevent any of the contaminated water from escaping. The water in the retention pond was approved by the NEORSD (Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District) to be sent to a water treatment center through the sanitary sewer line.

However, other water drained from the stadium, farther from the source, was much more diluted and determined by the EPA to be safe for release into the storm sewer system.

“The water tested in Pepper Pike was found to have no detectable levels of any chemicals at all,” Hardis said. This water could be released into the storm sewer system.

Sandi Noah, Vice President of Communications at Omnova Solutions,  provided a statement describing this latex adhesive, GenFlo 3966, which her company manufactures.

“This product contains no substances which at their given concentration are considered to be hazardous to health,” according to the 2012 OSHA Hazard Communication Standard 29 CFR 1910.1200 states.

Noah stressed that the adhesive poses no threat to the community.

“The ingredients are almost 52% water, with approximately 48% consisting of polymerized styrene-butadiene latex,” Noah wrote in an email, “The finished latex product is considered benign.”

In very high concentrations, this adhesive could only possibly interfere with aquatic organisms’ respiration; however, due to the extreme dilution near Pepper Pike, it is impossible that it could be harmful at all.

This adhesive has also never previously harmed the environment, according to Noah.

“…Although track installations can sometimes experience unexpected precipitation, we do not know of instances of this product harming the environment,” Noah wrote.

She added that latex of this general type are used in “paper, carpets, masking tape and baby diapers.”

Once there is more rainfall, the EPA will determine whether the track is safe to return to normal operation.  Hardis hopes that the installation will be completed this week, but some athletes were hoping for it to be completed sooner.  Boys’ cross country captain Jack Spero finds it difficult to train without a track.

“…Our training for the season has mostly been done on grass or gravel as opposed to training with the track,” Spero wrote.

Other runners were disappointed, as well.

“I wish the track was completed on schedule as it would have allowed for a Beachwood Cross Country meet,” cross country runner Mukul Govande wrote in an email, “This year is my senior year and having the meet would have meant a lot to me.”

Current Surfaces, Inc., the contractor installing the track, has not commented on the matter.