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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Portland schools shut off water fountains after lead found

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PORTLAND — Portland Public Schools has shut down drinking fountains at all of its schools and will use bottled water for the remaining school year after tests at two schools found high levels of lead in water from sinks and fountains.

Oregon’s largest school district said in a statement late Friday that it is working with Multnomah County to provide on-site blood lead level screening next month for students at Creston and Rose City Park. Officials plan to test every fountain and faucet in all the schools this summer.

“In addition to providing safe drinking water to all of our students, we will be taking immediate action to examine the protocols and procedures that resulted in delayed notification of our families and delays in shutting off impacted water sources,” Superintendent Carole Smith said in a statement Friday.

Earlier Friday, Smith apologized for letting students and teachers at two schools continue using the drinking sources after tests showed unsafe levels of lead. When tests came back positive for lead, officials took steps to repair or replace plumbing, but they didn’t warn people not to drink the water, The Oregonian/Oregon Live reported.

Local Angle

Clark County school districts are still in the process of testing drinking water for elevated lead content after several Tacoma schools reported high lead content in school water last month and alarming lead levels were reported in the city water supply in Flint, Mich., earlier this year.

• Camas School District reported Friday that tests found lead content above allowable limits in a drinking fountain in Room 3 at Dorothy Fox Elementary School and a sink in the Zellerbach Administration Center. A district press release said operation staff have since disconnected both water sources, which were infrequently used. The district also disconnected four additional, less frequently used water fountains at Dorothy Fox, in Rooms 9, 11, 12 and 19. Bottled water will be available to students Tuesday when they return from the holiday weekend.

Operation staff will test all of the water sources in Dorothy Fox Elementary. The results will likely come back toward the end of the school year. All of the drinking fountains at the elementary school will be replaced over the summer, and the water will be tested to ensure the issue has been corrected, the district said.

• Vancouver Public Schools tested water in all schools and district facilities. Of the 47 sites tested, the district reported 32 had no lead detected at all. Where lead was detected, levels were far below allowable limits. The Vancouver district is retesting the water at any sites that had any amount of lead, said Mick Hoffman, the district’s assistant superintendent, chief of operations.

• Washougal School District Superintendent Mike Stromme said one drinking fountain at Excelsior High School tested positive for lead, but at levels within the safe zone. Lead wasn’t detected in any other water source in the district, Stromme said.

• Evergreen Public Schools began collecting water samples this week from all water sources, including potable water in drinking fountains and water from sinks in chemistry labs, at all schools and facilities, said Gail Spolar, district spokeswoman. The results should be available by the end of the school year.

• Ridgefield School District is preparing to begin testing for lead soon, according to an email from Neil Brinson, maintenance and operations manager. Brinson wrote that the district has contacted a local company to handle the testing, which will be done in all four schools.

• Battle Ground Public Schools will test all school water for lead this summer.

• Woodland School District reported Thursday that water samples have been sent out for testing, with results expected in two weeks.

• Hockinson School District did not respond to recent requests for information.

— The Columbian

“Portland Public Schools regrets not having notified families and staff as soon as the tests indicated that there were elevated levels of lead,” Smith wrote in an email to all families.

Lead is a known neurotoxin that is particularly harmful to young children.

Earlier in the week, the school district notified parents that tests conducted on March 22 found elevated lead levels at 14 out of 92 water fixtures at Creston K-8 and Rose City Park. The levels exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for lead in drinking water.

A parent at Rose City Park pressed for the testing, concerned about the news of contaminated water in Flint, Michigan. Parents also insisted on tests at Creston.

Some of those water fixtures have been replaced and retested; others have signs telling people not to use it or that the water has been turned off, the district said.

Martha Ruttle, whose daughter attended first and second grade in one of the Rose City Park classrooms served by a tainted water fountain, broke down in tears over the news. “I feel very betrayed,” she told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Nothing in state or federal law requires schools to test drinking water for lead or recommends how frequently faucets and fountains should be retested after being found safe.

But many Portland parents are adamant that it should happen more frequently than every 15 years, the school district’s current interval.

Portland Public Schools hasn’t systematically tested drinking water in its schools since 2001.

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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com

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