Those results, I found them to be problematic, and if they aren’t already investigating further they should be.” FOX 8 has learned that some samples taken from a local school in St. Tammany Parish exceeded the EPA’s action level under the Lead and Copper Rule.
Out of 20 samples taken this March at Fifth Ward Junior High School in Bush, 13 exceeded the EPA’s action level of 1.3 parts per million for copper, and three samples exceeded the EPA’s action level of 15 parts per billion for lead.
They recommend lead levels at school water fountains don’t exceed 1 part per billion.
Katner: "Hopefully they have tried to get bottled water in and other sources of water for the children while they’re investigating this, and the school hopefully is working with the state to figure out how to remediate the situation.” “We put chemicals in the water to sort of create this protective scale around some of these pipes so that they don’t leach into that.
They didn’t use corrosion control,” said Katner.
Because of that, the Louisiana Department of Health requires the school system to test for lead and copper.
Mendez: "You might be concerned.
However, I would caution that those levels were in areas where children did not have access to the water and where the water was not being used for the children or for the staff.” Mendez says parents were notified about the elevated lead and copper levels.
She adds the school system implemented corrosion control measures and conducted field tests that show the water levels are now within the proper range.
So the water fountains are run constantly, daily, so a lot of these results came out of places where the sink is not used on a regular basis, like for instance, one of them was in a closet that was in the back of the gym.