Nation's school districts differ on drinking water standards

By Sanjay Bhatt
Seattle Times staff reporter

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In the District of Columbia, Philadelphia and Baltimore, public schools have taken drinking fountains or sinks out of service if lead was present at more than 20 parts per billion (ppb) — the level at which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends, but does not require, remedial action.

School districts in San Francisco and Portland, however, have taken a more cautious stance by setting their "action levels" at 15 ppb — which EPA considers the lowest level at the tap that can reasonably be required of public water suppliers.

Like these urban districts, Seattle Public Schools is weighing the tradeoffs involved in lead abatement. The district could decide by Sept. 1 what level of risk it would tolerate. So far, using a 20 ppb criteria, a majority of the 94 buildings tested — or a quarter of 1,789 drinking fountains districtwide — will likely require replacement of lead-leaching fixtures.

But other factors besides the action level will influence the level of health risk: How often will custodians be asked to flush fountains? Will Seattle Public Schools expand testing to bathroom and kitchen sinks? How often will the district retest for lead?

Health experts say it's important to minimize children's exposure to lead — especially to chips and dust from lead paint — because it increases the risk for delays in development. But experts also say that the danger of any particular child being harmed by low-level lead exposure in school drinking water is extremely low.

Congressional legislation sponsored this year by U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords, Ind-Vt., would have provided school districts with an annual $30 million to test for and reduce lead in drinking water. But the legislation has been stalled.

Here is a roundup of how other urban districts have dealt with the problem:

Philadelphia: In January 2000, Philadelphia schools tested for lead and other contaminants in more than 300 buildings, said Marijane Hooven, the district's manager of environmental services.

Drinking fountains were tested, as were other places where a child might fill up a water bottle, such as sinks in classrooms, teachers lounges and kitchens. The district chose not to test bathroom sinks and instructed children not to drink from those sources.

Ninety-eight percent of tested outlets produced water with lead of less than 20 ppb after being flushed, Hooven said, which indicated that fixtures, not pipes, were leaching lead.
 
"We had a technical committee that met every two weeks, and representatives from EPA and the health department were part of our decision making," giving the district's decisions credibility with the public, she said.

The district completed its remediation program in July 2002 at a cost of more than $4 million, Hooven said. In one building, the drinking-water lead levels couldn't be reduced no matter what the district tried, short of replacing the entire plumbing system, so the district supplies bottled water, she said.

Although it's been two years since the district completed its remediation program, it hasn't decided how often to retest water outlets for lead.

Baltimore: In February, the city's health department ordered the public school system to disable all its drinking-water fountains and said none could be turned back on until the health commissioner gave written permission.

About two months ago, the Baltimore district began testing the drinking water in all its schools and plans to take unsafe fountains permanently out of service or replace them, then retest water to ensure its safety.

The district estimates remediation will take two years and cost about $3 million. This includes $500,000 a year for supplying some schools with bottled water.

Portland: A comprehensive lead-testing survey began in 2000 and repairs were completed by the end of 2001. Total cost: $1.2 million, paid from a capital bond approved by voters.

Don Larson, Portland's assistant director of facilities and asset management, said district staff decided to test every water outlet — including bathroom faucets, maintenance sinks and kitchen sinks — and disable the outlet if lead levels measured over 15 ppb.

"We want to err on the side of caution," Larson said. "In case there's a discrepancy in your testing, you want to compensate for that."

The district tested more than 3,000 water outlets in nearly 120 buildings and ended up replacing about 1,000 fixtures, he said. After retesting them to ensure their lead levels were acceptable, the district found it would have to put filters on about 800 outlets where lead-leaching pipes continued to cause elevated lead levels in the water.

School custodians flush drinking-water outlets every Monday morning and submit weekly logs to the central office.

San Francisco: After adopting a more conservative 15 ppb action level to deal with its lead problems, the school district completed a survey of drinking fountains, kitchen faucets and sinks in home-economics classes at 150 sites by late 2001, said Ed Ochi, environmental-health officer.

The district found that all but 56 of its 2,912 water outlets passed the 15 ppb standard after being flushed for 30 seconds. Those 56 fountains were permanently disabled or replaced.

For the rest, the district has adhered to a daily 30-second flushing program.

"Some sites do it religiously, some sites don't," Ochi said.

The district benefits from a California law, approved by voters, that bans the sale of water fixtures that leach more than 5 ppb of lead. "Lead-free" fixtures sold commercially can legally contain up to 8 percent lead.

As the district renovates schools to make them more accessible to the disabled, it also will consider replacing more fixtures, he said.

San Francisco's schools, like other cash-strapped California districts, can't afford to periodically retest its water for lead.

Said Ochi, "There's a reason you don't get sampling done when they're literally struggling to keep teachers. ... "

If public schools are to make water monitoring a priority, he suggests, "open up the money tap."

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com