California’s Water Resources Control Board recently issued a web-based map that it says can be used as a tool to show which public schools in California have had their drinking water tested for lead.
“Our newly developed website allows the public to search the status of lead testing of drinking water at schools in their area,” stated Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the water board’s division of drinking water. “This tool allows the public to stay informed as we continue to receive more results from the mandatory testing of public schools.”
According to the map, only one school in Santa Barbara County had levels of lead that required action, Hollister Elementary in Santa Barbara. The school has already completed its necessary follow-up to be compliant with the state, and is denoted as such on the map.
Community water systems statewide are required to complete lead sampling on drinking supplies for K-12 public school, day cares, and preschools on public properties built before 2010 thanks to Assembly Bill 746, which took effect on Jan. 1 of this year.
Mandatory sampling of the water systems must be completed by July 1, 2019, or face enforcement action from the water board’s division of drinking water.
About 30 percent of California’s 10,000 public schools have thus far been sampled, according to data compiled by the agency.
The sampling is done at drinking fountains and faucets used for “consumption and preparing food.” A water system must report the testing results within two business days if any samples show lead levels above 15 parts per billion (ppb). Water systems have 10 business days to report results if samples show lead levels less than, or equal to, 15 ppb.
If a school’s lead level exceeds 15 ppb, then the water system is required to sample water entering the school to help determine the possible source. The school must also take several actions, including shutting down all fountains and faucets with high lead levels, providing potable drinking water until the situation is resolved, and notifying parents and guardians of students of the issues.
Additional testing may be required to determine if all or just some of the school’s fountains and faucets are required to be shut down.
Private schools are not required to be sampled under AB 746 but may request free sampling under the water board’s voluntary Lead Sampling in Schools Program, which remains in effect until Nov. 1, 2019.
Because California has newer infrastructure and less corrosive water than other parts of the country, less than 1 percent of all samples collected so far have detected elevated levels of lead, state officials said.
This article appears in Jun 21-28, 2018.
