Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 2430 |
| Work Detail | Last weekend, amid heightened national concern over lead in drinking water, workers began replacing 11 sinks in St. Louis Public Schools. They plan to replace 71 more water sources where elevated levels of lead were found over the summer. In Clayton, an environmental firm is scheduled to test drinking water at all public schools next week, starting with elementary and preschool buildings. The Parkway School District is getting bids and has tested water at its older schools in the past. A section of Barretts Elementary, for example, was built in 1895. “The last time we did routine testing was in the 1990s, and buildings came up negative,” said Bernard DuBray, superintendent of Fort Zumwalt schools in St. Charles County. “With everything that’s going on now, we want to be squeaky clean.” Nationwide, many school districts and states are responding to the crisis that unfolded in Flint, Mich., by testing the water that thousands of children are exposed to every day. Water contamination in Flint is what prompted St. Louis district staff to push to test all 744 consumable water sources in the district’s 74 school buildings. Problems were found in 30 schools. And it generated discussions in Kirkwood about whether that district should also test. Kirkwood is now working to schedule the screening for this fall, a district spokeswoman said. The testing affirms that school leaders see lead as a risk not only in aging urban school buildings but also in newer facilities in the suburbs. Even in newer construction, “lead-free” brass valves and fittings found in faucets and drinking fountains still contain a small amount of lead, creating the possibility of leaching. In St. Louis, three schools with elevated lead levels — Vashon High, Clyde C. Miller Career Academy and Gateway Middle School — were built after 1990, for example. The oldest buildings, Meramec Elementary and Mann Elementary, were built in 1901. The district’s facilities division is working to pinpoint the source of contamination where elevated levels were found. As fixtures and faucets are replaced, the water will be tested again, said Patrick Wallace, district spokesman. If those tests continue to show elevated lead levels, crews will go into the walls, and potentially into the ground, to pinpoint the source. “We’re hopeful it’s the faucet,” Wallace said. “If that’s the case, that’s a much simpler fix.” Raising questions St. Louis school officials directed the contractor to do “first draw” tests, meaning the water samples tested had been sitting in pipes for at least several days over summer break. Wallace said the idea was to get the worst possible reading for water that a child might drink on a Monday morning. “Water sitting in the pipes accumulates lead,” said Siddhartha Roy, who was among graduate students and research scientists at Virginia Tech who uncovered the high lead levels in Flint’s drinking water. “Parents and teachers and school principals are rightly questioning and looking at their infrastructure and figuring out what are the problems?” No level of lead is safe. Lead is a neurotoxin that can cause irreversible harm to developing brains, particularly in babies and children younger than 6. It can impair the nervous system, affect IQ, a child’s ability to concentrate, and hurt academic achievement. In older children and adults, it can lead to gastrointestinal problems, high blood pressure, kidney problems and anemia, according to Julie Weber, director of the Missouri Poison Center. High levels of lead in pregnant women can affect fetal development and lead to miscarriage and brain development issues. The tap water in St. Louis is regularly tested for lead and other contaminants. It has proved to be safe. When elevated lead levels are found, “The source will be the premise plumbing,” said Daniel Giammar, Walter E. Browne professor of Environmental Engineering at Washington University. Before 1986, lead supply pipes were often installed to connect plumbing in homes, schools and businesses with water supplies. Lead is also found in small levels in the “lead-free” brass that make up fixtures and components in faucets and drinking fountains. Collecting samples In April, prompted by the Flint crisis, Normandy school officials had water tested at all nine schools and centers in the Normandy Schools Collaborative. The samples, drawn at 10:30 a.m. on a Thursday, showed levels at less than 5 parts per billion, according to the analysis provided by Normandy. The Environmental Protection Agency requires action to be taken if lead levels in water reach 15 parts per billion. St. Louis Public Schools set the threshold at 10 parts per billion to reduce any risk to students, Wallace said. Other districts that plan to test drinking water in school buildings include University City, Maplewood-Richmond Heights, Rockwood, Ladue, Pattonville, Francis Howell, Jennings, Ritenour, Hazelwood and Affton. Confluence Academies, a network of charter schools in the city, also has plans to test. Testing is underway in Ferguson-Florissant. The St. Louis Archdiocese has 73 elementary schools in the city and St. Louis County. Some of those schools have already been tested, said Kurt Nelson, superintendent of Catholic Education, though he did not have a list. Decisions on whether to test are made at the parish level. Special School District and Wentzville school officials have discussed testing water in older buildings, but nothing is scheduled. In Riverview Gardens, school staff take precautions by running the water 15 minutes before school each day to clear the lines of any possible contamination, said a district spokeswoman. In recent years, Webster Groves tested water and found no contamination, according to the district. Lindbergh tested water in 2004 “and the results came back negative,” a spokeswoman said. All modifications, renovations and new construction involving plumbing has used copper pipe and lead-free joints. No additional tests are planned in Lindbergh. Mehlville also has no tests planned. Metro East districts contacted for this story did not respond. On Thursday, St. Louis school officials plan to release the final results of the lab work done over the summer by Environmental Consultants LLC. The report is expected to be released at the 6 p.m. Special Administrative Board meeting and include the levels of lead detected at each of the 744 water sources where samples were taken. The work was done at the urging of district staff, said Rick Sullivan, president of the SAB. The reason was Flint. “No one knew, so we said, ‘Let’s test,’” Sullivan said. “It was done as a precaution.” |
| Country | United States , Northern America |
| Industry | Water & Sanitation |
| Entry Date | 03 Sep 2016 |
| Source | http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/districts-move-to-test-water-for-lead-after-elevated-levels/article_97969941-46c9-5c9c-adf2-774a44e19b74.html |
