The Department of General Services, or DGS, tests every water fountain every year for lead content. The agency’s staff shuts off the main water supply if the water sources aren’t at par with DGS’ standards, and will then set up a filter or change the pipes. And a sink in the nurse’s room at Mukilteo Elementary had high lead levels and a sign was posted saying the water was not to be used for human consumption.
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The city also began testing water in 28 public schools this week.
In March, the public school district in Newark, N.J. offered free lead-level blood tests to many of their 17,000 students, after high lead levels were discovered in the water in several of their schools.
In the wake of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, lead poisoning is top of mind for many of us.
Officials in other Snohomish County school districts said they are reviewing when drinking water was last tested on their campuses. “Oh yes, we’ve ordered a lot of lead tests”, he said. Researchers have said even small amounts of lead as a child can cause subtle brain damage that can trigger learning disabilities and violent behavior. None of the other districts contacted this week said they plan to do water testing. (It’s unclear what the lag time between scheduling calls and actual home visits will be like, though.) Residents will get results of their water sample within three weeks; results will also be posted publicly online.
Lead tests continue this week when Tacoma Water enter up to ten customers’ homes to examines water samples from taps. “We are going to test every fixture in our district”, said Superintendent Carla Santorno.
The bill approved by the Senate committee Thursday would authorize $17.5 million to create a national registry to monitor how lead exposure affects children’s health.
But Adrienne Katner, the assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at Louisiana State University’s Health Sciences Center who conducted the lead study, thinks the current levels are unacceptable: “There is no safe level of lead”, she said. A state law approved in 2009 requires schools to test drinking water for lead and for other environmental hazards such as mold. While none of the city’s pipes are lead, some private residences still have lead pipes. And I have to say, NY and L.A. have been doing this for a while …
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Many wondered how test records that showed lead problems in all those schools could have remained hidden.
