Arvada school has lead scare - #lakewoodnews

Three hundred and fifteen children are back at school after a faucet tested positive for elevated levels of lead at Arvada's Jeffco Head Start building. After staff at the Head Start building, at 5150 Allison St., noticed discoloration in the water from a non-classroom faucet, they took a water sample and sent it to the county health department for testing. The results came back on April 13, showing elevated levels of lead. As a precaution, Jefferson County, which runs the program for children ages 3 to 5, closed the school for the remainder of the week while additional testing was done.The program resumed on April 18, and students and staff have been given bottles of water for drinking, cooking and washing."I immediately reached out to my team and others to determine next steps - knowing that the most important thing for me was the safety of the children and my staff," said Gayle Perryman, executive director of Jeffco Head Start.Perryman and her staff say they hurried to contact the children's parents."We felt it was vitally important that our families were given all the information we knew too, and hear it from us first," Perryman said.Water from that first faucet has now tested under the federal limit,according to county tests. But Arvada and thecountyconducted dozens of additional tests throughout the school and found three additional sites with elevated lead levels in non-teaching areas. The Environmental Protection Agency warns the public there is no known safe level for lead, but has established an "action level," mandating action be taken if water samples indicate more than 15 parts per billion of lead. High sample tests trigger requirements for officials to tell communities when levels are unsafe and additional testing is needed. The EPA guidelines say further changes to piping or water quality might also be needed.The initial faucet test at the Head Start program found lead at 180 parts per billion. The secondary water tests found elevated lead levels in an office room drinking fountain (34.5 ppb), a conference room (186 ppb) and a boiler room (132 ppb water supply and 1,710 ppb off an expansion tank). The areas not frequented by children."With the swift additional testing ... we were able to quickly determine that everywhere in the building where children would drink the water, that water was and is safe," Perryman said.After the school tested positive for elevated levels, Arvada performed tests at pipelines at  six neighboring schools -- Lawrence Elementary, Arvada K8, Secrest, Jefferson County Head Start, Two Roads Charter School and Foster Elementary. All tests showed lead levels under the EPA threshold. "Arvada's water is safe," Arvada spokeswoman Maria Vanderkolk said last week. "There is no lead in the main water lines." According to the city's water utility department, Arvada works to maintain pH levels in its water supply so that it won't become corrosive, minimizing the amount of lead from pipes and connections that could contaminate the water supply.At this time, neither the City of Arvada nor Jefferson County know the exact source of the lead. Additional tests have been ordered to identify the source. The city said older buildings may be at a higher risk for lead because of older pipes and pipe solder.No remediation plan has been determined yet for the Allison Street building, county spokeswoman Kate McIntire said. "We continue to work with the City of Arvada to determine the source of the contamination and extent of the problem."

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