After Testing, Cleveland School District Finds Lead In 60 Buildings

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District recently uncovered high levels of lead in samples that were taken from drinking fountains and other water sources in 60 school buildings.

This past summer the district turned off drinking-water sources in 69 of its buildings in order to conduct voluntary testing for lead. The district completed testing for more than 1,700 drinking-water outlets, with 9 percent being found to have high lead levels.

These included 79 drinking fountains and 40 faucets in common areas, according to Cleveland.com. A bathroom sink at Wilbur Wright Elementary School, located on Cleveland's West Side, tested at 4,480 ppb. Water from a drinking fountain at Tremont Montessori School had lead levels of 1,560 ppb.

Patrick Zohn, the school district's chief operating officer, said that the school district will remove and replace all the fixtures and fittings on the 582 outlets that had results above the U.S. EPA standard.

“I was neither surprised nor unsurprised. I just knew that we as a district had to find out if there was an issue,” Zohn said in a story appearing on NewsNet. “If, after the repair, we still test positive, then we’ll go deeper into seeing what if any piping needs to be replaced.”

While water was being tested, water coolers were installed in the buildings where drinking water sources had been shut off. 65 buildings that were built before 2002 were tested by Cleveland-based GETCO environmental consultants.

Four newer buildings were tested “as a precaution, but none of the sources in those buildings showed elevated levels of lead,” according to the district.

In a similar case, the Philadelphia school district decided to expand its drinking water program after detecting high levels of lead in nearly 50 school drinking outlets. This past August, the district originally announced that it would reevaluate drinking water outlets for lead concentration levels in just 40 schools throughout Philadelphia. NewsWorks.org reported that the district now plans to test the water at each of its 200-plus schools over the next 18 months.

Cleveland reported that their children have not been exposed to the contaminated water this school year.

"We're taking a cautious, conservative approach," Zohn said.

To read more about lead levels that exceed federal standards visit Water Online’s Drinking Water Regulations And Legislation Solutions Center.