It’s been a week and a half since residents were evacuated from their Bella Lago Apartments at Airport and Woodside, after a large amount of mercury was discovered in the carpets and walls of apartment 114, which was being prepared for its next tenant. Workers discovered small puddles of a shiny silvery liquid in the carpet pad. They called authorities who confirmed it was mercury, and a lot of it. An initial estimate was something around a half pound mixed in the carpet, the carpet pad and in the baseboards. But it turned out to be more like 10 pounds. Tests revealed that mercury levels even in the air in unit 114 were sky high, way above what was healthy. They tested other apartments and they too had elevated levels. The apartment complex owner, John Ferahi, who also owns the Atlantis Hotel Casino in Reno, arranged for all residents of the building to move to temporary quarters while the mercury was cleaned up.
After days of vacuuming and cleaning, mercury levels in unit 114 remained above 1,000 nanograms per cubic meter leading experts to believe that the mercury has seeped down into cracks in the unit’s concrete foundation. Although mercury levels in adjoining apartments have dropped back down into the “safe” zone, once they’re closed up, those levels start rising again, leading experts to surmise that fumes from unit 114 are re-contaminating the entire building. Hence, no residents are being allowed back into their apartments until unit 114 is free of mercury. And to completely clean #114 may involve removing the concrete floors, walls and support beams. A complete gutting.
As for why such large amounts of mercury wound up in apartment 114 remains a mystery. It is known that former City Park Ranger “Bub” Phillips lived there for about six years. Phillips was a big burly outdoors kind of fella who unfortunately died several years ago, so they can’t ask him what he was doing in #114. But it is logical that a man of Bub’s recreational tendencies could have been doing any number of things in there that may have involved a lot of mercury, including animal hide tanning, gold retrieval from computer circuit boards or even separating gold from mining ore he may have gathered from surrounding mountains. Friends say Phillips died from a long running medical condition but it’s unknown whether it was in any way possibly connected to exposure to mercury.
Exposure to high levels of mercury over long periods of time can lead to neurological damage in the brain triggering learning disabilities. It’s also hazardous to pregnant or nursing women.
