Renewed concerns about lead in Tacoma drinking water surfaced last week after Tacoma Water officials announced that they had found high levels of it in water lines leading to four homes near Lincoln High School.
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Meanwhile, the Seattle School District has been fielding questions about its lead testing program.
According to its Tuesday update, over 300 water sources were tested at four of its schools last Spring.
The district replaced the faulty fixtures, and district officials reported that the replacements appeared to have fixed the problem.
Mary Battenfeld, a member of the Citywide Parent Council, delivered a statement to the School Committee Wednesday with a list of demands for testing water, notifying parents, and providing safe, bottled water.
Tacoma Public Schools found high levels of lead in six schools since officials discovered year-old tests were never reviewed until last week.
The district began voluntarily testing lead and other substances in elementary school water systems in 2012. And although lead is the contaminant of greatest concern, it won’t be the only one tested for.
The new money was approved as reports have been emerging about unsafe levels of lead in several Boston public schools. Spokesperson Elle Warmuth says they will alert parents if other schools had high lead results. “Shame on you tacoma public schools!” commented another.
“When he said that, I was like, What? It was their neglect that left our kids exposed for a year”, a mother posted in the comments section.
” More modern buildings are less likely to have lead problems, but older buildings with older plumbing connections that is the area we are making sure we are spending time on”, he said.
Superintendent Carla Santorno also asked for a plan to test water at all district schools. Those samples were taken in the evening after school let out.
The levels at the Hernandez school were more than double the safety standard whereas the levels at the Kenny school were only slightly over the safety standard. Since 2004, all schools have been tested three times, and two-thirds have been tested a fourth time.
The EPA requires water that surpasses 15 parts lead per billion be addressed.
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According to the report, exceeding lead levels were found in 42 states, of which ME was the most affected with 44 samples taken from drinking fountains and faucets showing high lead levels at 26 facilities. He said testing has not been conducted in the past in Tacoma middle or high schools, but that those schools will be included moving forward.
