Lead levels threaten school water
HISD among districts across Texas, U.S. to test for toxin after Flint crisis
Students at Golfcrest Elementary must pack an extra necessity along with their pencils and notebooks: water bottles.
Testing in November revealed that the southeast Houston campus has the highest lead levels of all elementary schools in Houston ISD. In room 29’s water fountain, lead levels were as high as 1,160 parts per billion, far exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety thresholds. Such levels are high enough to cause kidney and brain damage, and to draw major concern from parents, doctors and advocates.
“One of my daughters said her teacher told her the water was not safe to drink, but my other daughter didn’t hear about it,” said Jeannette Aguliar, who has 8-year-old and 5-yearold daughters at Golfcrest. “She was drinking the water, and now she’s scared.”
Texas does not require schools to test for lead and neither does the federal government in most cases. Testing here — and in many communities across the nation — was sparked by the recent crisis in Flint, Mich., where people were falling ill because of water tainted by the toxic metal. And while most environmental regulators, doctors and public health officials generally agree that no amount of lead is truly safe, they disagree about where
safety thresholds should be set to protect children.
Sixteen of Houston’s 167 elementary schools exceed 20 parts per billion, which is on par with the EPA’s guidance for schools but still 5 parts per billion higher than the EPA’s threshold for public water utilities. Pediatricians and advocates recommend even lower levels.
“It’s 20 times higher than what health experts recommend,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, which recently analyzed lead levels in four Texas school districts. “We think they should be using a standard that matches what scientists and pediatricians view as necessary to protect the health of children.”
‘Now I’m worried’
Of the 16 HISD schools flagged last year, 10 now have lead levels below 20 parts per billion after the district made repairs, according to HISD officials.
The state’s largest school system worked to improve troubled plumbing, replace water fountains and sinks and provide alternative drinking water, such as bottled water, at Golfcrest and other campuses that needed it, said Alishia Jolivette, HISD’s officer of facilities services.
The district and schools are awaiting the results from a second round of testing after improvements were made at Golfcrest and five other schools that originally tested above HISD’s threshold, HISD spokeswoman Ashley Anthony said. Improvements were more extensive at these schools so retesting has taken longer than at others, district officials said.
Parents at Golfcrest were sent a letter in February warning them of the high levels. Some said they have been sending bottled water with their children, but others said they never received the letter.
“My daughter has been saying they can’t drink the water, so I’ve been giving all of them water bottles and they’ll grab two in the mornings,” said Jennifer Sanchez, who has four children at the school. “They kept saying they didn’t know for sure, but now I’m worried. I heard about it, but because I didn’t get a letter, I didn’t think it was a problem.”
Schools built before 1986, when Congress passed a lead ban, are most at risk for having tainted water. Much of Golfcrest was built in 1949, according to HISD’s website. Eight of the 15 water sources tested at the campus had below 1 part per billion of the substance — the level recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics — and two tested between 1 and 15 parts per billion, but five tested at unsafe levels ranging from 58 parts per billion to 1,160.
The school only alerted parents of the lead levels in February, three months after the lead test’s results were given to the district.
Dr. Arch “Chip” Carson, an environmental health expert at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, said most older buildings have levels of lead that exceed 1 part per billion in drinking water.
‘Put things in perspective’
Lead testing and remediation in schools vary wildly across the country in the absence of federal laws or regulations. It’s not mandatory unless schools have their own water supply. Most do not.
Unlike Texas, states such as New York and Illinois have passed laws requiring schools to test for lead and to act at certain lead thresholds. Illinois schools and day-care centers must notify parents if lead levels exceed 5 parts per billion, according to the Chicago Tribune. New York requires remediation if lead levels exceed 15 parts per billion.
One proposed bill in the Washington State Legislature would make regular testing mandatory and require schools to develop a plan to prevent lead levels above 1 part per billion by the beginning of 2018. Another proposed bill would require water utilities to replace lead service lines at schools and early childhood programs within three years.
School districts in other large cities — including St. Louis, Atlanta, Philadelphia and St. Paul, Minn. — also began lead testing their water in 2016 following the Flint water crisis. St. Louis, Atlanta and Philadelphia all set 15 parts per billion as their lead threshold. Only St. Paul held the same 20 parts per billion threshold as Houston ISD.
But the majority of schools and districts across the country do not test for lead and have no set safe threshold.
Carson called EPA’s threshold “reasonable,” given the feasibility of replacing old buildings for most districts.
“It’s important for parents to put things in perspective,” he said. “The fact is their kids are drinking water at school that is as clean or cleaner than what they’re drinking at home in many cases.”
Lead generally affects children more than adults and can cause serious health problems such as brain disorders, heart and kidney disease and reduced fertility.
Texas lawmaker seeks testing
Facing pressure from community activists, HISD agreed to test for lead at its elementary schools last summer.
At the time, school officials estimated it would cost $130,000 to test all its elementary schools. Middle schools are slated to be tested in 2017-18, and high schools not being rebuilt as part of the voter-approved bond program will undergo testing the following year.
No cost estimates have been made for testing at secondary schools.
Only four of Texas’ most populous districts have tested for lead, Environment Texas said, and Houston ISD is the only district in the metropolitan area to publish the results.
As schools are voluntarily looking for lead, plenty is being found.
Environment Texas analyzed test results from 594 schools in the Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston school districts. Of those schools, 386 — including 147 of Houston ISD’s 167 elementaries — had levels above 1 part per billion.
Environment Texas officials said the findings support calls to require schools to remove lead service lines, to use filters at every tap used for drinking and cooking, and allow no more than 1 parts per billion of lead at school.
State Rep. Nicole Collier, DFort Worth, filed HB 2395 to require lead testing in Texas schools.
Metzger said he hopes the Environment Texas study will spur other legislators to pass the bill.
“Given the inadequate response by most school districts in the state, including some that are not even testing, the Legislature needs to set state standards to make sure every school child in Texas isn’t being exposed to lead,” he said.