As the days waned at John B. Hood Junior High School last month, the bills climbed.

It was all in the name of cleaning up a mercury contamination caused by a ninth-grader’s reportedly unintentional and innocent exposure of liquid mercury on campus on March 18.

Starting on the first day when it was discovered that a student brought about 2 ounces of mercury in a water bottle he found in an alley, the cost to Ector County Independent School District was $19,126.50.

From there, the mercury spread. And the expenses mounted.

By the seventh day in, ECISD was paying more than $48,000 a day for the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health to clear out Hood Junior High and remediate the spreading vapors. Officials said because almost 70 people were exposed and the liquid mercury was carried around on the bottom of people’s shoes, the mercury spread across the school. Those who came in contact with the mercury were checked out at local hospitals and everyone was determined to be OK, according to past Odessa American stories.

By the end of it, crews had to dispose of 33 desks, 30 textbooks, two cafeteria tables, clothing, shoes (more than 500 items in all) and replace the cafeteria floor at the 137,000 square-foot junior high.

The severity and scope of remediating the contamination surged once toxicologist Kelly Scribner with the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, a private company, arrived to Odessa from Arkansas, she said. They reviewed the scene with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which ultimately dictated that ECISD must adhere to its recommendations on cleaning up the school in the case of a mercury spill or contamination.

The day Hood students and staff returned to school on April 3, Principal Wayne Squiers was excited that the mess was over.

“We’re confident we’re coming back to a safe environment for all the students. We’re 100 percent positive,” Squiers said. “If we were not 100 percent, we couldn’t be back.”

The daily cost summaries were obtained through a public records request by CBS7 last week. They’re titled “estimates” and were part of emails traded back and forth with ECISD Chief Operations Officer David Finley and clean-up personnel.

The summaries show itemized reports on how much was paid to each employee and sub-contractor and for equipment, travel, food and data collection.

Here’s a look at March 27 (six days before Hood re-opened), the most expensive day for ECISD and its mercury clean-up (based on the available summaries):

>> On-site personnel worked hourly rates ranging from $88 to $235 (overtime was $132 to $352, respectively). According to the tabulations, most personnel on March 27 worked between 12 and 14 hours that day, accounting for the priciest day of the clean-up ($124,433.11).

>> One person worked 19 hours, earning $4,287.50 that day.

>> 20 personnel were working on-site at Hood with two off-site personnel as well.

>> The costs included equipment rentals and use of a vehicles, a variety of pumps, vapor analyzer and data collection devices, amounting to $8,385 for March 27.

>> The cost to rent 12 vehicles on March 27, at $255 per day each, was $3,060.

>> For an item called “environmental/analytical data service” there was a fee of $100.

>> Travel, such as airfare, was only factored in at the beginning and end of the clean-up. Though lodging did cost $3,220 for 20 hotel rooms at $140 a night on March 27. Those expenses, along with others, were nearly identical every day of the 16-day clean-up.

>> Meals per diem were usually calculated at $56 for each person (about $18.60 per meal three times a day), or a total of $1,120 for 20 personnel on March 27.

>> Subcontracting with other companies also ate up a large amount of the bill on March 27: Allied International Emergency charged $17,085.55; HazMat charged $17,284.36; and TAS Environmental charged $35,497.71.

On March 18, the first day the mercury was discovered, there were three mobilized personnel at Hood for a total of 33 hours, while eight others were working off-site for 11 hours in all according to the daily summary. The cost to employ those people was $6,887.50, with the overall cost totaling about $19,000.

The tally for the entire cleanup sits around $900,000 right now, though that’s not a final amount, ECISD Director of Communications Mike Adkins said last week. Previously, the district reported that its insurance, with a deductible of $100,000, would cover the costs.

On April 15, the ECISD school board voted 7-0 to excuse Hood from making up the missed school day and declared the day an emergency. That was done to move quickly to replace 524 items that were ruined or destroyed during the cleanup.

The declaration prevents the district from going through the normal bid process and speeds up the process, Superintendent Thomas Crowe said. The costs of those items were not available this week.