With new reports of lead in drinking water at schools across the country, federal and state lawmakers have introduced bills requiring testing, and local school officials say they are now discussing conducting those tests in school buildings across the North Fork.
Tap water testing has not been done inside most local school buildings in years, where the buildings are served by municipal water systems that regularly test the water supply provided to customers.
Local municipal drinking water supplies are not contaminated with lead. (See most recent water quality reports for Suffolk County Water Authority, Riverhead Water District and Greenport Water District.)
But drinking water becomes contaminated as it travels through customers’ service lines and interior plumbing fixtures.
Area school buildings were all constructed before 1986 — when federal rules took effect banning lead in drinking water supply lines, plumbing and fixtures. According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, that puts them at risk for lead contamination since they are likely to have lead-lined pipes or lines constructed with solder containing lead.
“The water testing was done on a regular basis prior to switching to Suffolk County Water,” Mattituck-Cutchogue School Superintendent Dr. Anne Smith said. “We are in discussion in light of the recent events about consideration for testing on top of what the water authority does,” she said. The school board’s health and safety committee is discussing the cost and timing of testing, she said.
David Gamberg, superintendent of Southold and Greenport school districts said both districts are “in the process of researching some important preliminary questions prior to making a decision to conduct any testing.”
Riverhead school superintendent Nancy Carney said the district is also getting cost estimates for testing, “so we can assure the public that our water is safe.”
“There is no obligation or recommendation for schools to test water,” Carney said.
That may not be the case by the end of the current state legislative session, however. Bills recently introduced in the Assembly and State Senate direct the State Education Department to require school districts to test their drinking water for lead.
Upstate Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Endwell) introduced the measure last month after tests in the Binghamton, Ithaca and Trumansburg school districts forced those districts to shut down drinking water supplies due to lead levels that exceeded state and EPA standards.
“I was surprised to learn that there are no state laws or regulations requiring testing of school drinking water,” Lupardo said. “Given that many of our area schools are located in aging buildings, it is important that we make sure their water is safe.”
An identical bill was introduced in the State Senate by Tom O’Mara (R-Big Flats).
The legislation would provide additional state aid to schools to conduct the tests and, where needed, for remediation.
Lead testing is not presently required by federal regulators, but bills are also pending in Washington aimed at increasing testing for lead contamination in schools.
Last month, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) proposed a bill to provide federal grants to fund testing. And this week, U.S. Senator Corey Booker (D-NJ) introduced legislation that would require all public and charter schools to test their drinking water for lead contamination. Similar bills are also pending in the House of Representatives.
Public awareness of lead in drinking water increased with revelations of the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, where corroded pipes contaminated the entire water system supply for that city of 100,000 people. Last month, Newark, New Jersey school officials disclosed that about half the city’s schools had elevated lead levels in their drinking water. After that revelation, New York City began testing drinking water inside each of its 1,500 public school buildings. So far, 140 have had at least one water sample showing elevated lead levels, according to a New York Times report.
Even low levels of lead in children have been shown to damage brain development, cause behavior and learning problems, impair hearing and affect other major organs in the body, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The federal EPA has set the maximum contaminant level for lead in drinking water at zero “because lead is a toxic metal that can be harmful to human health even at low exposure levels. Lead is persistent, and it can bioaccumulate in the body over time.”
Young children, infants, and fetuses are particularly vulnerable to lead because the physical and behavioral effects of lead occur at lower exposure levels in children than in adults, according to the EPA.
“A dose of lead that would have little effect on an adult can have a significant effect on a child,” the agency says on its website.
