Looking for lead in Jefferson County Schools - #lakewoodnews

Jefferson County Schools is hunting for lead this summer in its buildings.

In a matter of weeks, the district has found sinks, drinking fountains and hose hookups that tested positive for elevated levels of lead at the following schools: Green Mountain, Kendrick Lakes, Ralston, Westgate, Bergen Meadow, Bradford, Deane, Eiber, Slater, Stony Creek, Edgewater, Ute Meadows and Foster elementary schools.

Tests at Pennington, Coronado, Hutchinson and Miller elementary schools found no elevated levels of lead.

Each school was tested at numerous water sources. Ralston had nine high-lead spots; Slater had eight; Bergen Meadow had five; Ute Meadows had four; Deane had three; Green Mountain, Edgewater, Stony Creek and Foster had two; and Kendrick Lakes, Bradford and Westgate had one.

All locations were either a sink inside a classroom or food service prep area, a drinking fountain or a sink hookup.

The Environmental Protection Agency requires any water location that tests higher than 15 parts per billion be remediated. Most sites with positive tests were slightly above the suggested level, but a sink at Foster and Ute Meadows showed levels above 66 parts per billion, and two sinks at Slater tested above 100 parts per billion.

The EPA cautions that there is no known safe level of lead consumption.

Diana Wilson, Jeffco's chief communication officer, said that every school in the district will be checked over the summer.

This hunt for lead was initiated after Arvada's Jeffco Head Start building, a former Jeffco Schools building, tested positive for lead in April, Wilson said. Staff wanted to check the water quality to ensure the safety of the district's 86,000 students and its facilities. She was not aware of any other Colorado school district conducting such a survey.

Approximately 69 percent of Jeffco facilities are 29 to 68 years old, so Wilson warned more schools could see high levels of lead.

The estimated cost to test all the schools is $7,500. There is no cost estimate yet for fixing each lead-high site. Wilson said each water source will not be used until it tests below the EPA's lead threshold.

New schools are being tested daily. The district plans on testing all 154 district schools, and taking appropriate remediation steps by the time school starts in the fall. Wilson added that the district is willing to contract out additional testing and remediation work to ensure that schools are safe.

Families who have attended schools found with elevated lead levels are being notified right away by the district, Wilson said.

from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/Looking-for-lead-in-Jefferson-County-Schools,224581