Online database gives insight into lead levels in B.C. schools’ water

Schools and daycares in British Columbia should test their drinking water annually to make sure the levels of lead are safe, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control said in a recent report.

While lead poisoning is on the decline and children tend to drink more water at home than at school, it is still important to take action because even the smallest amount of lead can be harmful to the developing brains of young children, the report says.

Last year, following a Sun/Province investigation, the province ordered schools to test lead levels in drinking water over the next three years.

Last weekend, the newspapers revealed the first round of results from those tests: more than half of B.C.’s 60 school districts had unsafe levels of lead in drinking water sources in 2016 and early 2017.

Our analysis of the test results showed that 26.5 per cent of the 15,000 tests on about 10,000 drinking sources revealed lead levels that exceeded Canadian drinking water guidelines of 10 parts per billion — some by wide margins.

Do you want to know if the water in your child’s school has been tested? And the results of those tests?

We’ve now compiled those test results into a searchable database that shows, within a specific school, the location of fountains and sinks tested and the lead levels.

Most of the 34 school districts with problem results have responded with measures such as removing water fountains, installing filters and, in some cases, replacing pipes and fixtures.

Many schools are also flushing water lines daily to try to reduce lead in the water, but the CDC — and other experts — argue flushing can “increase lead concentration in drinking water and should only be considered as a mitigation measure for interim use.”

While replacing pipes can be expensive, the paper suggests medical dollars could be saved in the long run if we keep children healthy.

Municipalities should also inspect their pipes leading to any children’s facilities with high lead, the CDC says.

“Alternatively, when lead levels in a school or daycare system exceed a set standard, the use of alternative drinking water sources, such as bottled or cooler water, may be considered,” it added.

The report suggested B.C. copy Ontario’s lead-testing program: schools and daycares are tested annually, especially between May and September when water temperatures are higher (and therefore more susceptible to lead contamination).

Priority “should be placed on monitoring the lead in drinking water accessed by infants and younger children up to the age of seven years, as they are the most susceptible to irreversible neurodevelopment effects at low-level lead exposure,” the CDC report says.

“There is a clear association between early lead exposure and developmental effects in children — three to 18 years old — such as decreased academic achievement, reading skills, math skills, attention, auditory function and visual function.”

In an interview last week, B.C. Education Minister Rob Fleming said the overall results were a concern.

But he added school districts would not be forced to expedite testing over the terms of a policy set last year that requires districts only to test one third of schools each year.