At the end of the 2023 to 2024 school year an email was sent out to all parents of students at our school. It said that out of 191 potential drinking water sources (sinks, water fountains, ice machines etc.), 38 exceeded five parts per billion (PPB).
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, one way to think of PPB is to think of it as one drop in one billion drops of water. Any amount of lead, whether big or small, can cause harm to people, no matter their age.
In 2022, Missouri Legislation passed the Get the Lead Out of School Drinking Water Act. This act sets standards for the lead concentration in drinking water in schools. The act says that water sources in schools cannot have over five PPB in water sources. In addition to passing this act, Missouri Legislation allotted 27 million dollars to help schools reduce the amount of PPB of lead in school water.
Axiom Service Professionals, an independent testing firm, tested water sources around the school for the amount of lead the water contained, whether the water was meant for drinking or not.
According to the email sent to all of our school’s parents by Dr. Travis Shaw, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, at the end of last year, the fountain by room 114 was the only water fountain with more than five PPB of lead in it. The average PPB in all of the water sources tested was 50.23 PPB.
Water sources at our school that are not meant for drinking have been labeled, warning students and staff to not drink or use the water for cooking.
As stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lead enters water when a chemical reaction occurs in plumbing materials that contain lead. This is known as corrosion- dissolving or wearing away metal from the pipes and fixtures. Newer school’s in our district were found with less amounts of lead in their water because the water systems are newer.
Schools that had lead that exceeded the five PPB limit had old water systems replaced, and filtration systems to prevent large amounts of lead in school water.
“If a water source that is intended for consumption exceeded the five- PPM limit, remediation was performed, including replacing fixtures or supply lines and/or installing filtration systems to ensure drinking ware meets the requirements,” Executive Director of Operations Dr. Shawn Dilday said.
The water at our school is able to be drunk safely because of the new filtration systems and measures to keep our water lead-free.
“Approved water sources are safe to drink,” Dr. Dilday said
With new systems and equipment to keep our water safe we hope that our school’s water will be safe to drink for years to come.
If a water source is labeled with a warning that the water should not be drunk, please hear to that. Keep health the number one priority so that our learning environment can be as safe as possible.
