Tests show high levels of lead in school water

By Sanjay Bhatt
Seattle Times staff reporter

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District administrators say fewer fountains at five other schools — Nathan Hale High School and Fairmount Park, Olympic Hills, John Rogers and Schmitz Park elementaries — have sustained lead levels above 20 parts-per-billion (ppb), the "action level" Congress recommended for schools in 1986.

Water-quality test results for the six schools were announced yesterday and posted on the district's Web site. Test results for other schools should be completed by June 15 and made public by July 1.

Schools across the country have been dealing with lead-contaminated water, which generally occurs from the corrosion of aging plumbing.

Since January, the Seattle district as a precaution has supplied bottled water to all schools built before 1997 and plans to delay other construction projects if necessary to pay for replacing fountains and pipes.

Lead poisoning from drinking water is uncommon, however, and has never been documented in Washington state.

Seattle school officials said that seven of Wedgwood's 28 drinking fountains — even after being flushed for 30 seconds — produced water samples containing lead levels between 22 and 370 ppb. They said the main service pipe entering the school building also contains abnormally high levels of iron, which could explain the rusty hue of the water.

A 1993 district report urged replacement of the plumbing at Wedgwood, Schmitz Park, Fairmount Park and Mann schools, but the work was never done. While district managers told school custodians to flush the fountains daily, there was no system in place to ensure the flushing took place.

Last November, Wedgwood parents Geoffrey Compeau and Mark Cooper expressed concerns about the water and obtained the 1993 report under the state's public-records law. The School Board voted hastily in December to supply bottled water, do comprehensive testing at all schools and develop a remediation plan for schools with water problems. Superintendent Raj Manhas, who took the district's helm last June, said he wants to make the district "a national leader in clean water," rather than assign blame.

The testing and planning could cost the district up to $500,000. No one is sure how much replacing pipes and fixtures will cost. To test a school's water, the district took a 1-cup sample at two intervals: an initial draw of water that had been in a pipe for at least eight hours, called a "standing water sample," and a second draw taken after running a tap for 30 seconds. If the lead level was more than 20 ppb in either sample, the district failed that fixture.

During the summer, the district plans to replace the pipes at Mann, built in 1902, and Wedgwood, built in 1954. It will replace only fountains at Schmitz Park and Fairmount Park because testing indicated the pipes aren't the source of excessive lead levels, said Ron English, testing supervisor.
 
The new fountains will have bubblers made of alloy containing 0.15 percent lead, which goes far beyond the "lead free" federal standard of 8 percent.

Two fountains at Olympic Hills and seven at Nathan Hale failed the standing-water test but were below the 20-ppb limit when flushed. The district plans to replace those fountains and retest to see if the standing-water samples have acceptable lead levels, English said.

At Rogers Elementary, 22 of 24 fountains failed the standing-water test but were within the flushed limits. A replacement plan is being developed.