Sewage Contamination Causes Concerns for the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners

Garden Grove, CA, July 3, 2013

Last month, it was reported that the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners were forced to use the same locker room at the Coliseum. This resulted after a sewage backup flooded both team’s locker rooms, forcing them to share the Oakland Raiders’ facilities. 

This is not the first time that backed up plumbing has caused issues at the 47 year old stadium. Although these types of situations are not typically this high profile, sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) happen every day. When they occur in people’s homes and businesses, they can spread raw sewage causing extensive damage and the risk of disease for building occupants.

Sanitary sewer overflows can be caused by many factors. They are typically associated with sewer pipe blockages that may have been caused by pipe breaks or cracks due to tree roots, system deterioration, insufficient system capacity and construction mishaps.

“For those unfortunate enough to have this occur in their home or place of business there are environmental and health and safety concerns that need to be addressed,” reported Michael Chapman, Laboratory Manager of LA Testing’s Garden Grove facility, a leading environmental pathogen and IAQ testing laboratory in the greater Los Angeles area. “Sewage can contain an array of chemical and microbial contaminants and pathogens. These contaminants soak into porous building materials and can be an immediate potential threat to building occupants. LA Testing provides sampling supplies and testing services to ensure that properties that have suffered a sanitary sewer overflow have been properly cleaned and remediated so that the do not pose a health risk to people.”

LA Testing has sponsored an online educational video about sewage contamination issues.  It can be seen at:

http://youtu.be/V4XORptvcX8.

To learn more about testing services for pathogens, mold, bacteria, chemicals or other indoor environmental issues, please visit www.LATesting.com, email info@LATesting.com or call (800) 755-1794. 

About LA Testing and EMSL Analytical, Inc.
LA Testing and EMSL Analytical are providers of environmental testing services and products to professionals and the general public. The companies have an extensive list of accreditations from leading organizations as well as state and federal regulating bodies. LA Testing has laboratories throughout California to service commercial clients and government agencies as well as the general public.

Contact Information

Joseph Frasca

Senior Vice President of Marketing

EMSL Analytical

(1) 1-866-798-1089

jfrasca@emsl.com