Capital District Schools Test High for Lead in Drinking Water

WASHINGTON, DC, March 23, 2004 (ENS) - Every morning before the children arrive, staff at the suburban Maryland Gaithersburg Elementary School will have left all the school's water taps open for at least 15 minutes. At lunchtime they will again leave the water running from all school taps for 15 minutes, and again at night. In fact, all schools and many homes in the Washington, DC metro area are flushing their water lines every four hours since high levels of lead have been found in the water supply.

For the past two months, area residents have known they might be at risk from elevated lead levels, but it is only within the past week that school districts have discovered that their students have been drinking water contaminated with lead far above the levels approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Lead levels in the drinking water at Gaithersburg Elementary School were found to be too high in about one-fifth of all samples tested. (Photo courtesy Montgomery County School District)

Of the 57 samples taken at South Lake Elementary last Thursday, elevated levels of lead were found in eight samples. The highest concentration was 70.4 ppb, more than three times higher than the EPA standard.

Maryland was alerted to the problem last week when nine water samples from Maryvale Elementary School in Rockville were found to have elevated lead levels.

The testing of drinking water in the Montgomery County Public Schools for elevated levels of lead will be accelerated from one to two schools each day, starting today, in order to complete the initial assessment of 20 sample schools more quickly and identify plans for testing all 191 schools in the county. Meanwhile, the water taps will be opened every four hours to flush the lead out of the school water systems.

“These findings suggest that elevated levels of lead may be found in other schools,” said Montgomery County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jerry Weast and County Health Officer Dr. Ulder Tillman at a news conference Friday. “We believe that it is both prudent and responsible to take certain precautionary actions in all schools to safeguard the water sources for students and staff.”

Children and pregnant women are particularly at risk of lead poisoning. The federal government agency responsible for toxics, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, says "Lead can affect almost every organ and system in your body. The most sensitive is the central nervous system, particularly in children. Lead also damages kidneys and the reproductive system. The effects are the same whether it is breathed or swallowed."

Education Secretary Rod Paige visits a classroom at KIPP D.C. Key Academy. These students are among area residents that may be at risk of elevated lead levels in drinking water. (Photo courtesy Department of Education)

The lead enters the drinking water from old lead water service lines or copper pipes, valves, fixtures or lead solder that may come into contact with the water, especially when water stands in the lines for several hours or overnight.

The EPA and the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) estimate that in addition to the schools there are 23,000 homes and businesses with lead service lines in the area. WASA has already replaced more than 500 lead service pipes and is identifying others for replacement.

Earlier this month, WASA agreed to implement an EPA ordered interim action plan to ensure safe drinking water to residents while corrosion control efforts proceed. A multi-agency technical team, the Technical Expert Working Group, is working to eliminate the source of lead.

EPA Regional Administrator Donald Welsh said a team of experts from the public and private sectors are "expediting a high-tech investigation to identify the cause of elevated lead levels and present a solution that restores confidence in drinking water as quickly as possible."

A lead service line is usually a dull gray in color. Lead pipes usually have a ball or bulge in the neck of the pipe. A copper service is shiny. (Photo courtesy Oneida Water Department)

Also by April 10, WASA will begin sampling tap water from a representative group of homes and other buildings – including schools and daycare centers – that are not served by lead service lines. Copper pipes, valves, fixtures or lead solder can also leach lead into drinking water. The sampling plan and testing methods will be based upon a consensus of EPA, District of Columbia government and health agencies.

WASA has submitted for EPA approval a revised annual plan that provides for an accelerated schedule for physically replacing lead service lines.

A public education plan that conveys "a necessary sense of urgency to the public about the lead in their drinking water" must also be put in place.

A multi-agency team of water corrosion control experts is working to correct the cause of the problem. The technical team includes representatives from the EPA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, WASA, the Washington Aqueduct, the D.C. Department of Health, the Virginia Department of Health and a variety of independent experts and contractors.

The team has set April 15 as a target date to outline a new trial treatment program to correct the corrosion.

But no sooner had the team begun its analysis when it hit a major glitch. A contractor provided incorrect instructions to WASA water sampling technicians, so last Wednesday, the EPA said the sampling has to be redone. Samples taken with the incorrect procedure may not accurately reflect actual lead concentrations in the water.

The error was a paragraph with instructions for collecting a second-draw water sample, which inadvertently replaced first-draw instructions, the EPA said. The first-draw instructions were omitted.

Houses of all ages can have lead in the drinking water due to corrosion of water pipes. (Photo courtesy Hillcrest Neighborhood)

WASA analyzed 1,837 samples through March 8, and is expected this week to provide EPA with the results of another 3,000 samples.

But no one knows how many homes were sampled with the wrong instructions, and so sampling results are questionable. WASA is reviewing sampling data to see if it can learn which homes were sampled using incorrect instructions.

Meanwhile, Welsh directed WASA to immediately notify all residents whose water samples are in doubt, provide them a new sampling kit with correct instructions within 14 days, and reanalyze the results within 30 days of the pickup of the sample.

Very old and poorly maintained homes may be more likely to have lead pipes, joints, and solder, the EPA says. However, new homes are also at risk. Even legally lead-free pipes may contain up to eight percent lead, according to the EPA, which warns that these pipes can leave significant amounts of lead in the water for the first several months after their installation.

The Washington Aqueduct and WASA are responsible for developing a revised optimal corrosion control treatment, and the EPA is responsible for reviewing the treatment based on input by experts from all parties.

Welsh said that although the corrosion team does not expect any treatment to immediately reduce lead levels, the team believes that improvements for a new treatment process, once implemented, will progress to full effectiveness over a period of several months.

Meanwhile, WASA advises Washington area residents with lead service lines to draw water for drinking or cooking after another high water use activity such as bathing or washing clothes so that a total of at least 10 minutes of flushing has occured. Use only cold water for cooking and drinking.

If WASA records show a home is connected to a water main by a lead service line, residents can get a free test kit. WASA will pick it up, analyze it for free and give the results within 30 days. Residents can get information about lead pipes by calling the lead hotline, 202-787-2732, or email: WQP2003@dcwasa.com.

EPA Website on lead in drinking water is online at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lead/index.html