The Office of Environmental Management & Services is taking on a project to proactively remove asbestos pipe wrap from several District school gymnasiums this summer.

Gymnasiums are high-activity areas where the temptation to loft a ball to the rafters is ever-present. Removing the undamaged asbestos pipe wrap overhead and replacing it with fiberglass and PVC eliminates a potential future hazard.

These are large-scale projects, given the size of the gyms and the areas that must be securely contained when the asbestos pipe wrap is removed, making this work best suited to a summer project.

The pipe wrap project is taking place at John Bartram, Joseph Catharine, James Dobson, C.W. Henry, Eliza B. Kirkbride, John M. Patterson, Joseph Pennell, and Martha Washington.