Discovering Contamination At Local Schools, D.C. Slashes Lead Action Level

Washington, D.C. is imposing new standards for lead in drinking water after finding high levels at local schools.

The city is lowering its action level for lead in public school drinking water from 15 ppb to 1 ppb, according to an announcement from the city.

A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics released this month made recommendations on lead levels at schools.

“State and local governments should take steps to ensure that water fountains in schools do not exceed water lead concentrations of 1 ppb,” the report said. “Drinking fountains in older schools can be an important source of lead exposure. Unfortunately, there are no regulations for evaluating lead contamination of school drinking fountains in most states.”

After lead was found in drinking water at various D.C. schools, officials tested every school and applied filters at certain sites, they said. The intend to intensify testing efforts going forward under the new policy.

“The new policy is estimated to cost the District nearly $2 million at the onset, which includes the installation of filters on all drinking water sources at public schools, public libraries, and recreation centers. Implementation is expected to be completed this calendar year,” the city said.

In May, D.C. officials apologized for their approach to lead at schools. In particular, they came under fire for failing to inform parents about elevated lead levels.

Deputy Mayor of Education Jennifer Niles told FOX5: “What I’m focusing on is how we never do this again, and an apology for making that failure and for causing the panic and the scare that some parents are feeling about this.”

Department of General Services Director Christopher Weaver echoed the apology.

“We were testing and we were taking action,” Weaver said. “We were not reporting it and we needed to do that. I apologize for that. That has been something we have focused on to correct.”

D.C. is no stranger to the fight against lead contamination. The city underwent a major lead crisis early in the century.

“Top officials of Washington’s water utility had been aware of lead problems since at least 2002, when the city tested 53 homes and found that drinking water contamination in more than half of them exceeded a federal trigger level. According to a former utility official turned whistleblower, some knew about it a year before that; she said they agreed to let her manipulate test results to hide the problem, but her superiors, who fired her, deny that,” according to Nieman Reports.

Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech scientist who helped uncover the lead crisis in Flint, MI, described Washington’s lead crisis: “People don’t realize this — the extent of the problem in D.C. was about 20 to 30 times larger than Flint,” he said, per WTOP. “There was more lead poisoning, more exposure of people.”

Adding orthophosphate to the treatment process eventually helped rectify matters in D.C., the report said.

To read more of our coverage of lead crises around the country visit Water Online’s Drinking Water Contaminant Removal Solutions Center.