Pols tell schools: Get the lead out!

Amid mounting anxiety over elevated lead levels in city school water, all five borough presidents partnered on a letter calling on Chancellor Carmen Fariña to tackle the matter with greater urgency.

Referencing the lead crisis that has engulfed Flint, Mich., they asked the city Department of Education to combat the problem immediately.

“While we understand that it takes some time to repair and replace contaminated fixtures, our children should not be unnecessarily exposed to high levels of lead while they wait for those changes to take place,” their letter to Fariña stated.

“The tragedy of Flint, Michigan, should not be repeated here.”

As of Jan. 25, the DOE had checked lead levels in 541 of the 1,720 schools under its supervision. Of roughly 46,000 faucets checked, 9 percent registered lead levels above the “action level” of 15 parts per billion.

At PS/IS 217, on Roosevelt Island, eight school taps were pulled after registering lead levels that automatically triggered remediation.

Concentrations ranged from 16.5 ppb to 3,430 ppb in one weightroom tap at the school, according to the DOE.

“The recent reports of increased levels of lead in school drinking water are extremely troubling,” said Staten Island Borough President James Oddo.

The citywide alliance pushed for action in soothing parental fears and called for alternate sources of drinking water in affected schools, as well as free lead-exposure testing.

The group also called for the installation of water-filtration systems to avoid future problems.

“Parents should not have to worry that the everyday act of drinking water might make their children sick, especially in our public schools,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz added, “Children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful health effects of lead because these effects occur at lower exposure levels in children than in adults.”

The DOE has lobbied for calm in the face of increasing concern over the issue, arguing that comparisons to the Flint crisis are invalid.

There, elevated lead levels stemmed from systemic flaws in the city’s water supply and treatment system.

By contrast, New York City water is lead free. But contamination occurs when the flow interacts with aged plumbing systems in city school buildings.

“Parents can rest assured that water in schools is safe for students and staff to drink, and there is no need for bottled water,” said DOE spokeswoman Toya Holness.

Nonetheless, the politicians were blunt in demanding remedies.

“We are calling for immediate action, as the health and quality of life of our children and their families are at stake,” their letter read.

The DOE said it will complete testing of the city schools’ water systems by the middle of this year.