Government to improve drinking water in six schools
Testing found elevated levels of lead in several institutions, minister says
The provincial government is upgrading drinking fountains in six B.C. schools, but that is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to removing lead from all students’ drinking water, according to a recent Postmedia investigation.
The six schools are to receive $750,000 in updates, which will benefit 1,600 students at the six schools after “recent testing found elevated levels of lead in water sources at several schools in the province,” Education Minister Rob Fleming said in a statement Monday.
But in September, Postmedia analyzed government-ordered tests done at schools, and found that more than half of the 60 school districts in British Columbia had unsafe levels of lead in drinking water sources in 2016 and early 2017.
The analysis of the test results shows that 26.5 per cent of the 15,000 tests on about 10,000 drinking sources revealed lead levels that exceeded the mandated limit for drinking water, some of them by wide margins.
Drinking water upgrades have been accelerated and are to be complete by March 31 at the Children’s Development Centre in Saanich; Ecole des Sept-sommets in Rossland and Ecole Sundance Elementary in Victoria, both in the francophone school district; and Lake City Secondary-Columneetza Campus and Mountview Elementary, both in Williams Lake, plus Naghtaneqed Elementary/Junior Secondary in Nemiah Valley.
The last three schools are in the Cariboo-Chilcotin school district, where Postmedia found 31 per cent of all drinking water sources tested were above acceptable levels for lead — the eighth-worst record of B.C.’s 60 districts.
The francophone board had the sixth-worst record, with 34 per cent of drinking sources analyzed showing results above acceptable lead levels. Ecole Sundance, for example, had two drinking fountains and one classroom sink that tested two to three times higher than the Canadian maximum of 0.01mg/litre.
“Kids should be able to get a drink of clean, healthy water from water fountains at school. Now students at these schools will be able to do that,” Fleming said. “My goal is to have every student in B.C. attend a healthy and safe school, and this is another step toward achieving that goal. We know we have more work to do, and that is why we are accelerating capital investments.”
Fleming said the government will work with school districts to ensure crucial maintenance, like plumbing upgrades, take place provincewide as soon as possible. He did not provide a timeline.
The 34 school districts with test results showing high levels of lead have responded with measures such as installing filters and, in some cases, by replacing pipes and fixtures, the Postmedia investigation found.
But some schools continue to use flushing, running the water through pipes and fixtures for a period of time, as a mitigation measure. That passes muster for now with the province, but is viewed by some experts as an inadequate long-term solution.
Lead can leach into water in schools from old pipes, lead solder and certain types of fittings and fixtures.
The provincial health officer has found no evidence of children becoming sick from lead in drinking water in B.C., Fleming said.