Northwest School was under new construction and I was the Asst Principal. Around 6 pm I received a call from the custodian saying that there was an issue at the school. When I arrived there were about 40 fire trucks parked around the school. Many of the towns I did not recognize. It seems that the construction people had left a large barrel that contained Muriatic acid to clean the bricks. Local kids had tipped over the barrel. There was a cloud of about 50 feet in width and it was about 10 feet high. In the middle of the cloud were men in white coveralls and gas masks. I called the owner of the construction company (he was in Boston) and he said just put it in the corner and he would deal with it latter. I informed him that it was a major issue and he had to come to the school. While the reason why there were 40 fire trucks was that the state had mandated training about hazardous waste and this was the first time all of the fire stations had a chance to practice their new skills. It was a costly night for the owner of the construction company.
Uses of Muriatic Acid
Muriatic acid has many commercial and home uses, including:- industrial synthesis of vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
- food additive
- gelatin production
- descaling
- leather processing
- household cleaning (when diluted)
- pickling of steel
- production of inorganic chemical compounds
- pH control of water, food and drugs
- regenerating ion exchange resins
- purification of table salt
- building construction
- to dissolve rock in oil production
- occurs naturally in gastric acid to digest food
