Thursday, August 16, 2018

MCPS Review Reveals Elevated Lead Levels in Water at 86 Schools

...In 2017, the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill requiring periodic testing for the presence of lead in each drinking water outlet located in all schools.
The law required all initial testing to be done by July 1.
Montgomery County Public Schools tested 13,248 outlets at 208 school sites. About 1.8 percent of the outlets showed lead levels over 20 parts per billion, a guideline for lead levels set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and specified in the state law. About 1.1 percent of the water stations with high-lead levels were accessible to students.
A Bethesda Beat analysis of the test reports posted by the school system found that at least 59 drinking fountains, identified in the reports as bubblers, showed high lead levels.
At Flower Hill Elementary School in Gaithersburg, seven of nine high-lead level readings were at drinking fountains. Initial tests captured levels of lead between 31.5 parts per billion and 151 parts per billion. Cold Spring Elementary School in Potomac had five drinking fountains with high-lead levels in initial tests, with readings between 24.2 parts per billion and 79.1 parts per billion.
The highest lead level captured during the testing was 700 parts per billion in water from a kitchen faucet at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington; that reading decreased to 1.3 parts per billion during a follow-up test...

1 comment:

  1. Put this on the incredibly long list of "Zuck-ups" for COO Andy Zuckerman. Imagine zucking-up the turf replacement at RM, having ANOTHER bus driver do something inappropriate, and then zucking-up the drinking water... How does this guy still have a job? Jack needs to do SOMETHING!

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