Schools' water fails lead testing

The first six Seattle public schools to have their water tested all exceeded federal limits for lead -- with dangerous levels found at dozens of drinking fountains that children have sipped from for years.

At one school, 22 of the 24 fountains tested exceeded federal safety guidelines. At another school, the amount of lead in one fountain's water was almost 50 times more than the Environmental Protection Agency allows.

The results, released yesterday by Seattle Public Schools officials, were from samples taken at Fairmount Park, Olympic Hills, Schmitz Park, John Rogers and Wedgwood elementary schools and Nathan Hale High School.

Mark Cooper, one of two Wedgwood parents who raised concerns about the school drinking water last fall, was incredulous when he learned of the test results.

"It's bone-chilling," he said. "If you can't protect your kids in school, where are you? That's where they're legally required to be. It's a failure of our core values of society."

Samples were taken where the water supply enters the school, from the farthest end of the pipe system, and from all drinking fountains. The tests were run for lead, cadmium, copper and coliform, as well as metals posing aesthetic concerns, such as iron and zinc.

Under mounting pressure from parents, the district recently ordered testing at all of its 100-plus school sites and had bottled water brought in to schools with older water systems. Complete results are expected by July.

In the initial tests, levels of cadmium, copper and coliform bacteria were below state and federal limits in all locations, but lead levels exceeded the EPA limit of 20 parts per billion at each school.

Rogers Elementary in Matthews Beach had the highest percentage of fountains over the limit, followed by Fairmount and Schmitz, both in West Seattle, and Wedgwood, where one fountain had lead levels of 960 ppb.

Superintendent Raj Manhas, who joined the district in 2001, expressed regret yesterday that water quality in schools has not been adequately addressed. "It's painful for me ... that we didn't do what we should have done in the proper time," he said. "All we can do is move forward and do the right thing."

Manhas said the district will divert funds from other capital projects to pay for any remedial work needed after the tests and remediation plans -- expected to cost between $400,000 and $500,000 -- are complete.

"It doesn't matter what it takes," he said. "I know the board will support me on this. There is nothing more important than the safety of our students and our staff."

In 1993, a district report recommended replacing all piping at Fairmount, Schmitz and Wedgwood, along with NOVA alternative school in the Garfield neighborhood. Yesterday's test results for those schools showed lead levels in some cases considerably higher than those in tests taken in 1992.

The 1993 report, which followed water testing at 80 district schools and facilities three years earlier, also recommended random sampling to ensure lead levels remain within EPA limits and replacing fixtures in fountains with lead levels over the limits.

Fountains in many buildings were replaced, but a consistent testing program was never implemented. More testing was done in 2000 and 2001 at fewer than a third of Seattle schools, and district data indicate that only one school cited in the 1993 report, Schmitz Park -- was tested at that time. It showed lead levels over federal limits in two fountains.

Ron English, the district's lawyer who is overseeing the testing, said fountains will be replaced at Hale, in the Meadowbrook neighborhood, Olympic Hills, Fairmount Park and Schmitz Park this summer. Wedgwood will get new pipes, he said, and the district will make a decision about Rogers this summer. The work at Hale and Olympic Hills will be done in the next few weeks, English said, and the water will be retested.

If contaminant levels remain below allowable limits, the schools will be taken off bottled water and the results used to help guide the work at other schools.

"We don't want to just replace the fountains at all the schools and then find out it doesn't work," he said.

The district is holding off replacing pipes at the other three schools named in the 1993 report, district spokeswoman Patti Spencer said, until it knows whether new fountains, also called "bubblers," will solve the problems.

"Lead can come from the bubbler," she said. "If retesting after bubblers are replaced does not yield results that meet the standard, then we'll go to the next step."

According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even low levels of lead can cause decreased intelligence and impaired development in children. Lead can damage a child's central nervous system, kidneys and reproductive system, and at higher levels can cause convulsions and death.

Last year, the Seattle School Board ordered comprehensive testing and had bottled water distributed to 88 schools built before 1987. Fountains at the schools were shut off, and staff and students will be provided with bottled water while testing is conducted. Economic & Engineering Services of Bellevue was hired to carry out the project.

English said the recent tests also turned up bacteria in pipes at two elementary schools -- Lafayette, in West Seattle, and Beacon Hill -- and at Hamilton International Middle School in Wallingford. Those schools are still being assessed for other contaminants. He said the district is working with county and state health departments to determine the source.

Public schools, with the exception of those that have their own water source, such as a well, are not required by state or federal law to test their drinking water. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act requires water suppliers such as Seattle Public Utilities to test water, but treats schools like private homes.

John Vacchiery, the district's director of facilities planning and enrollment, said the report recommending pipe replacement at the four schools was given to the former facilities director, now retired. Vacchiery said he didn't know why recommendations were not followed.

"I wish I knew what happened," he said. "A lot of people wish they knew what happened."