By admin 
Chemicals linked to cancer and other human ailments have been found in the soil of an elementary school playground in eastern South Carolina, but state and local officials say there’s no cause for “immediate action.’’
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The S.C. Department of Environmental Services and the Darlington County School District say detailed studies did not find enough forever chemicals in the dirt at Black Creek Elementary School for concern.
Despite that, state officials say the district may want to cover soil in school play areas with grass, mulch or other materials to ”further reduce any potential exposure.’’
Forever chemicals found on the property apparently came from textile plant sludge once used by farmers as fertilizer. Years after sludge was spread on the land, it was discovered that it had been contaminated with forever chemicals and other toxins, raising alarms about the potential effects on 300 agricultural fields in Darlington and adjacent counties approved for the material.
Darlington school officials expressed relief Tuesday, June 23 at the findings by the SC environmental department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“The most important takeaway for our families is that SCDES and EPA have determined the findings do not present a risk to students or staff, and no immediate action is required. Those conclusions are important and reassuring,” according to a news release quoting Matthew Ferguson, Darlington’s school superintendent.
The release went on to say the district will keep the families of school children informed. Letters were being sent out this week informing parents of the findings, district spokeswoman Audrey Childers said. All told, 68 soil samples were taken, mostly in the playground area.
State officials did not immediately respond to questions from The State newspaper. Neither the school district nor the environmental services department released the levels of forever chemicals found in the soil, but a fact sheet said three types of the chemicals were found. Two of those are considered so toxic the EPA is establishing a strict limit on the compounds in drinking water.
Those forever chemicals are called PFOA and PFOS. Another forever chemical, known as PFDA, also was found in soil tests by state and federal officials.
Forever chemicals, formally known as per- and polyfluoralkyl substances, or PFAS, can cause or contribute to kidney cancer, testicular cancer, breast cancer, thyroid disease and immune system deficiencies.
The main routes of exposure are through drinking water or eating substances containing the material, although there are other exposure routes, as well. The materials have been used widely in consumer products for more than 60 years. They do not break down easily in the environment.
In addition to forever chemicals, tests found some amounts of metals, PCBs and pesticides, all of which can be toxic, but not at levels of concern, DES officials said.
The state and the EPA “will continue to work closely with the school to provide information, options and recommendations for addressing the soil and reducing potential health impacts from long-term exposure,’’ the environmental services department said.
Black Creek Elementary, on Leavensworth Road near Darlington, is in a mostly rural part of South Carolina that is dotted with small- to medium-sized farms. The area is little more than an hour’s drive east of Columbia.
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Dave Hargett, a consultant whose work helped alert the state that the school site was formerly a sludge disposal field, said the state’s findings are encouraging. But he said he’d like to know more about the risk assessments that were conducted to reach those conclusions.
He also said the findings don’t give the full picture of the contamination Galey and Lord sludge may have caused in Darlington and nearby counties.
The former Department of Health and Environmental Control approved putting Galey and Lord sludge on about 10,000 acres, from the early 1990s until 2013. But unlike the school site, neither state nor federal officials have checked the majority of that property to determine the amount of forever chemical pollution, he said.
So far, state and federal officials have found high levels of PFAS in three agricultural fields they tested — aside from the school property — that were authorized for Galey and Lord sludge. Yale University researchers have separately found PFAS in 15 other fields, about half at levels that exceed a limit established in Maine, one of the few states in the country to have such limits.
Knowing more is important for other people threatened by the after effects of sludge spreading, Hargett said. The EPA has said it is considering making the farm fields part of a federal Superfund cleanup site that now includes only the Galey and Lord plant.
“They still haven’t investigated the nature and the extent of the contamination, the magnitude of the contamination,’’ Hargett said.
Using industrial and municipal sludge is not unique to Darlington County. Farm fields across the state have been coated with the material from a variety of sources, although more is known about the issue in Darlington than anywhere else.
Hargett said the school district is lucky the levels have not raised alarms because the district’s consultant did not find the presence of forever chemicals on the property before the school was built. It opened in the fall of 2025.
School officials were unaware that Black Elementary was once a sludge disposal site for Galey and Lord until Hargett and others verified that by examining old DHEC records. By that time, the school had already been built and children were attending.
Galey and Lord has been closed for more than a decade. It once was one of the biggest employers in Darlington and Chesterfield counties, but ran into trouble with contamination and later shut down.
Today, the textile site is a crumbling mass of rusting, dilapidated buildings and old wastewater ponds. The EPA Superfund cleanup has not begun.
The sludge the company sent to farmers was at one time said to be a good source of nutrients that would help plants grow.
Sludge from Galey and Lord is suspected of contaminating groundwater that many people in the area relied on. Some people who live near old Galey and Lord sludge fields have contaminated wells. In some cases, people say their loved ones who drank from wells for years have gotten sick or died from exposure.
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