EPHRATA — The heating-cooling system at Ephrata Middle School is working as designed, according to Ephrata School District officials, and the building has not seen extended periods of elevated levels of carbon dioxide.

“Staff routinely monitor carbon dioxide levels throughout the building. The school’s HVAC system displays CO2 levels in each room and is designed to continuously track air quality,” wrote Ephrata SD Communications Director Sarah Morford in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald. “CO2 levels can temporarily increase in classrooms with many occupants ... At no time have students or staff been at risk. The system is programmed to send alerts if elevated CO2 levels persist for an extended period, and no such alerts have occurred.” 

Middle school officials did have to track down the source of an air quality problem, although one that only affected the sense of smell. 

“A sewage smell was noticed in some areas of Ephrata Middle School. Officials determined the odor came from drains in the building,” Morford said. “Systems flush fresh water through those drains every 48 hours. Timing has since been changed to 24 hours, resolving the issue.” 

A parent of an Ephrata Middle School student contacted the Columbia Basin Herald after their child reported maintenance staff conducting air quality monitoring at the campus.

With windows and doors closed most of the time, indoor air quality can be an issue in the winter. Bob Horst, fire marshal for Grant County Fire District 3, said some substances that can have detrimental effects can be hard to detect.  

Natural gas and similar products have additives that give them a smell to alert people to their presence, he said.  

Harmful substances may be colorless or odorless, but they do show up in symptoms like headache, dizziness, shortness of breath and flushed skin, Horst said. Since all of those can be symptoms of illness, Horst said the best way to be sure they’re not caused by substance buildup inside a building is to get into the fresh air. If fresh air makes the symptoms go away, the problem could be a substance buildup, he said. 

For those concerned about monitoring the air quality in their homes, a variety of air quality monitors can be purchased online and in retail shops for about $40 for highly-rated products. Like smoke detectors, they should be tested regularly and expire. Dates of expiration are generally printed on the back of the device or on the inside of the battery cover.