FLINT, MI — The state says its working with four schools and care facilities that had water with elevated levels of lead during testing late last year, including one that also had high readings previously.
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and Department of Environmental Quality flushed water lines and tested 63 of 78 schools, day and elder care facilities in Flint in November and December, reporting last month that 98.5 percent of sites sampled were at or below the federal threshold of 15 parts per billion of lead.
But four of those facilities — New Standard Academy, St. John Vianney School, Summerfield Community School and Michigan School for the Deaf — each had a single site where water tested over the lead limit despite other sample locations testing well below 15 ppb.
"The follow-up testing will assist in determining a proper corrective action to be tailored for each location individually.
Tawwab said in a news conference Wednesday, Jan. 3, that he wants a detailed agreement with the state, committing it to long-term testing for lead and bacteria before testing begins.
"At this point, MDEQ hasn’t been granted access into Flint Community Schools (buildings) to conduct the flushing and testing we’ve been able to complete at all of the other charter and parochial schools, day cares, and elder care facilities" in the city, said Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman for the department, in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal.
GISD Superintendent Steve Tunnicliff said the faucet that produced the high lead reading is used for hand washing and water that was tested bypassed a faucet filter that is usally attached.
Of the 818 total samples collected, 806 (98.5 percent) were at or below 15 ppb, 777 (95 percent) met the bottled water standard of 5 ppb, and no lead was detected in 662 (80.9 percent) tests, according to DEQ.
At the Michigan School for the Deaf, a bathroom sink sample, one of 68 taken, registered 21 ppb of lead.
A 39 ppb reading was also taken at a kitchen sink in New Standard Academy on West Carpenter Road.