NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The City School District of New Rochelle has released today a comprehensive report, Baseline Testing for Lead in Water at George M. Davis Elementary School, which shows a significant increase in the number of outlets testing above the EPA threshold for lead in water.
The water has been completely shut off at the school since May 15th when the school first learned of the results contained in the report release today. Initial sampling at Davis School was done on March 29th, as part of a districtwide sample of schools throughout the district. Davis was the only school to show elevated levels of lead in the initial sample testing. Additional testing on April 9th, indicated elevated levels of lead but confined to one area of the building at which point water was turned back on elsewhere in the building. Students and staff have been provided bottled water since the water-lead issue first came to light in April.
The latest report is the result of a thorough test of every water outlet in the building. Similar testing is planned for every school building in the district over the next 6 months.
Louis Berger, a BOCES-approved engineering firm based in New York City, sent two sampling teams into the Davis School on May 10th. The teams started from the center of the main corridor and headed away from the main office. Each team then proceeded to the two remaining areas on the first floor and then up to the second floor. The testing was done the day after the district plumber had increased the pressure in the lines to flush them out. The plumber reported on May 9th that brown sediments came out of the pipe then became clear.
Louis Berger reported that 19 additional locations exceeded the EPA action level, possibly as a result of flushing the pipes.
For the Baseline testing program, approximately 47% of the initial, first draw samples collected exceeded the EPA action level of 15 ppb., the report said. Additionally, 9% of the follow-up samples exceeded the EPA action level.
The highest water-lead sample was 1,460 ppb drawn from a sink in Room 42, a first floor room assigned to a Speech Language Pathologist at the school.
Based on the May 10th test results, Louis Berger and the Westchester County Department of Health are jointly making the following recommendations:
- Install new drinking fountains in hallways to establish centralized drinking locations;
- Install filters at drinking fountains/sources;
- Remove fountains in classrooms;
- Modify sinks in classrooms to prevent bottle filling;
- Replace old ceramic type drinking fountains that have been known to have a lead lined basin.
- Clean all faucet aerators (if present) for all sources used for drinking and/or cooking. Lead bearing sediment may end up in drinking water from physical corrosion of leaded solder and can build up in the aerator over time.
- Establish a flushing program as a routine, interim control measure:
- Once a week on Monday’s – flush the interior plumbing.
- Daily flushing – for all drinking fountains. Open valves at these fountains and let the water run for one minute.
- Consider establishing a program for periodic testing for lead in drinking water at the School.
There will be a presentation by the county health department to the of the District-Wide Health & Safety Committee on Friday June 3rd at 10:30 a.m. in City Hall. The meeting, to be held in the Carew Room on the second floor, is open to the public and includes a public comment period.
Water-lead testing is not required under state or federal law. New Rochelle undertook the water-lead testing on its own initaitive after Schools Superintendent Dr. Brian Osborne read reports of water-lead issues in the Newark School System in the wake of the water-lead scandal in Flint, Michigan.
The District posted advanced copies of the presentation and the Louis Berger repot on the newly created District-wide Health & Safety Portal.
RELATED:
Presentation on Lead in Water at Davis School (June 3, 2015)
Final Report on Davis School Baseline Water Testing for Lead (June 3, 2015)
More Lead Found in New Rochelle Elementary School Drinking Water (April 29, 2015)