Contractors drop huge bombshell on the Parshall School Board
Contractors drop huge bombshell on the Parshall School Board
By MARVIN BAKER
EDITOR
Contractors Roger Lynne and Dennis Deutsch dropped a huge bombshell on the Parshall School Board Tuesday night with news that could cost well over $1 million.
Lynne of Wheeler Contracting Inc., Minot, said an issue involving the seepage of kitchen water under the foundation of the elementary school, is much worse than previously thought. He has to drill more holes into the foundation before he can provide a final analysis and cautioned he won’t do that until school is dismissed for the summer.
However, preliminary tests don’t look good.
“Those blocks literally have 5 to 6 feet of water in them,” Lynne said. “There’s no way to cure it. That block is so permeated, it’s going to have to be taken down to get rid of the odor.”
If the standing water, and its odor that is similar to that of a hog barn, isn’t eliminated, the next issue will be mold and Lynne doesn’t want to see that happen.
“The next step is mold. Then the state will move in and they’ll shut this school down,” Lynne said. “And whatever is under that kindergarten classroom; it’s going to start coming up.”
Deutsch, ABC Building Concepts, Williston and Plaza, called the situation “an interesting phenomenon.” He said when holes have been drilled into block to look for water that may have moved, it shoots out like a fire hydrant.
Deutsch said none of the soil tested is contaminated, however, the water continues to travel and could continue to do damage.
“That block is acting like a septic tank and filtering the water,” Deutsch said. “Most was coming from the kitchen garbage disposal so there wasn’t a large volume of water used.”
