CUMBERLAND – Officials at John J. McLaughlin Cumberland Hill Elementary School are providing bottled water for students following word from the state Department of Health that two water samples taken from the school showed lead levels higher than what’s acceptable.
Parents were informed in a letter last Friday from Supt.
joinnbaa.org The two problem sites at the Cumberland Hill School are a level of 60 parts per billion, or ppb, at a kitchen faucet and a level of 41 ppb at the water fountain across from the book room.
Every other reading of two or three drinking fountains and one sink per school came in under 10 ppb.
Samples from the remaining four schools in town were collected a day later but results hadn’t been reported by mid-week.
“We anticipate that as more test results come in, we may have similar results in other schools.
This is not just a Cumberland specific issue.” Mitchell echoed comments from Champi who had said from the outset that he expected to find some unacceptable lead levels because samples collected in the early morning from the water bubblers and sink faucets had been sitting in water lines for more than 12 hours.
It’s not the drinking fountains but the water lines connected to them that are the culprit, Champi said.
In fact, June Swallow, state Department of Health chief of Drinking Water Quality, is offering the same advice to school officials: flush lines before students arrive and replace faucet aerators.
Both Mitchell and Champi are saying that replacing fixtures in the school is the long-term expectation.

$6.5M sought to treat Hyannis water contaminants.
A vote will be taken at the Barnstable Town Council meeting Thursday on whether to appropriate $6.5 million to purchase, design and construct a carbon treatment system at the Maher wellfield on Old Yarmouth Road.
When testing to find a solution effective for treating 1,4-dioxane is complete, another appropriation to construct that treatment system will be brought before the council.
"We really don’t have a choice.
Unfortunately we’re at a place where we have a lot of issues because the area has become highly developed."
The water contamination at the Maher wells is not part of the town’s lawsuit against Barnstable County, in which it contends the chemicals entered some of the wells servicing Hyannis after firefighting foams were used at the Barnstable County Fire and Rescue Training Academy.
Water typically provided to Hyannis residents from the Maher wells is being blended with water provided through an interconnect with the Yarmouth water system at a cost of nearly $1.25 million per year.
"There is a cost savings associated with constructing the carbon treatment unit," Santos said.
The permanent interconnect with Yarmouth will stay active in the event that either town needs to access the other’s water supply, according to Santos.
A health advisory warning pregnant women, nursing mothers and infants not to drink the water in Hyannis was in effect from late May until early July 2016, after the EPA lowered its advisory threshold for perfluorinated compounds.

From the Department of Water Resources: Crews removing a debris pile, estimated at roughly 1.5 million cubic yards, continue to make progress two days after the Department of Water Resources (DWR) halted flows down the damaged flood control spillway.
Lake Oroville is not expected to rise above 860 feet elevation while spillway flows are halted.
That lake level would be 41 feet below the level of the emergency spillway.
“We are working around-the-clock to get the power plant back online.” DWR does not expect the anticipated wet weather to interfere with debris removal or to create a lake elevation concern.
This complex of small reservoirs just downstream of Oroville Dam will provide enough water to maintain flows for approximately six days.
Work continues on the area below the emergency spillway, access roads, and other areas eroded by the emergency spillway runoff.
DWR continues to monitor the status of the dam, spillways, the Hyatt Power Plant and the progress of repair activities.
For a timeline of events regarding the Oroville spillway incident: http://www.water.ca.gov/oroville-spillway/index.cfm The latest photos from Department of Water Resources … Biologists from Fish and Wildlife and the California Department of Water Resources count the small salmon captured after the waters of the Feather River receded from the reduced outflow from the damaged Oroville Dam spillway.
Brian Baer/ California Department of Water Resources, FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY The latest video from Oroville … ——————————————– Sign up for daily email service and you’ll always be one of the first to know!
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Snowpack levels surge in the Sierra Nevada, help power California out of drought.
New measurements taken Wednesday show that California’s incredibly wet winter has resulted in historically high snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada, underscoring the state’s rapid march out of drought conditions.
The Sierra Nevada mountains provide about a third of California’s water when the snow melts in the spring and summer.
The average snowpack across the entire range was at 185% of normal conditions Wednesday, the Department of Water Resources said.
By region, the Northern Sierra Nevada snowpack was at 159%, the Central was at 191% and the Southern was at a whopping 201% of average for this date, data showed.
This winter has been California’s wettest in at least 20 years, and in some parts of the state, it may be the rainiest in history, according to state data.
Parts of Northern California are on track to record their wettest winter on record, with a series of powerful atmospheric river storms causing flooding, levee breaks and avalanche conditions.
The federal drought monitor shows the vast majority of the state is out of its five-year-long drought.
For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.
Angels Flight expected to reopen by Labor Day, officials say Oklahoma’s earthquake threat now equals California’s due to man-made temblors, USGS says Carjacking suspect who drove in reverse during police chase is taken into custody after standoff

Editorial: We need federal action to stop water pollution.
What started with some alarming news about the tainted water supply for the City of Newburgh last year has inspired action at the local and state levels.
Results from the first 370 people tested show a middle level of 16 parts per billion, three times higher than the national figure of 5.2.
More will need to have their blood tested and more work needs to be done to understand the immediate and long-term effects of this increased level and the best options for treatment.
The chemicals in these streams and lakes, in these and many other wells and water supplies all point directly toward the Stewart Air National Guard Base.
Last March, state investigators found alarmingly high levels of PFOS coming from Recreation Pond, the off-base retention pond used by Stewart from which water flowed into nearby streams, eventually ending up in the Newburgh water supply.
Other testing found a variety of levels of contamination in nearby wells, showing that the chemicals had gone into the aquifer and were not contained in surface water.
It has only recently come up with a plan to investigate the source of pollution around the base.
As Sen. Charles Schumer, the DEC and the leaders of Riverkeeper have demanded, the Air National Guard needs to immediately stop continued discharges of contaminated water into Silver Stream.
"The Department of Defense can stop this pollution, and it must do so without further delay," said Dan Shapley, director of Riverkeeper’s water quality program.

`Zero chance´ of water contamination, says boss of frack site energy firm.
Third Energy, the UK firm that last year secured permission to use an existing gas well near the North Yorkshire village of Kirby Misperton to run test fracks almost two miles underground, said of demonstrators: “We respect their right to protest but they should respect our right to operate.” The company says it will begin fracking at its KM8 well later this year and director of operations John Dewar is confident he can counter the continuing criticisms of the controversial technique.
But campaigners opposed to Third Energy’s plans for KM8 reacted angrily to Mr Dewar’s insistence that the well was drilled without local disruption and that the fracking operation will continue to have minimal impact.
Mr Dewar defended his firm’s actions standing next to the head of the KM8 well – a small, red valve mechanism looking not much bigger than a washing machine.
The well was sunk for conventional gas extraction in 2013.
Asked what his message was to protesters, some of whom have set up an anti-fracking camp nearby, he said: “My message to them is that, if they’re genuinely concerned, then come and see us, talk to us.
We respect their right to protest but they should respect our right to operate.” He said: “We were able to drill the well without causing any disruption.
“On this particular site there is absolutely zero chance, and I say zero carefully, of contamination,” he said.
Mr Dewar said the bore hole will be fully sealed from the surrounding rock and the aquifer, which is not used for drinking water extraction in the area – is much shallower and the rocks used for the test fracks thousands of feet below.
“He visited a lady who was kept awake all night by the 24/7 drilling and promised double glazing and a job for her husband, this is all on the public record of the planning committee meeting.

‘Zero chance’ of water contamination, says boss of frack site energy firm.
An energy firm preparing to restart fracking for shale gas in the UK later this year says its door is open to anyone with genuine concerns about its operations at the "most heavily monitored piece of real estate in the UK".
But Third Energy, the UK firm that last year secured permission to use an existing gas well near the North Yorkshire village of Kirby Misperton to run test fracks almost two miles underground, said of demonstrators: "We respect their right to protest but they should respect our right to operate."
The Kirby Misperton application was the first to be approved in the UK since 2011, when the industry was effectively halted after minor earth tremors in Lancashire were attributed to test fracking.
The well head itself is an understated focus for a nationwide controversy, a small, red valve mechanism looking not much bigger than a washing machine.
Asked what his message was to protesters, some of whom have set up an anti-fracking camp nearby, Mr Dewar said: " My message to them is that, if they’re genuinely concerned, then come and see us, talk to us.
"If they’re coming just to cause disruption, my message to them is that we will still go ahead.
"The hydraulic fracturing operation will take less time, be less disruptive."
One of the continuing concerns about fracking Mr Dewar is most keen to counter is the claim it could contaminate the water supply.
Third Energy’s plan for KM8 was approved last year by North Yorkshire County Council.

Town will test water at Folly Cove for possible contamination.
ROCKPORT — The Board of Health will conduct additional water quality testing on its septic system this summer to ensure there is no contamination in wetlands and tidelands near Folly Cove.
“I am concerned about possible contamination of nearby wetlands and tidelands,” said Bill Thoms in a statement to the board at its Jan. 31 meeting.
Thoms lives on Washington Street, within the watershed area that drains into the ocean at Folly Cove.
He also asked for testing in the nearby seawater in Folly Cove.
The board agreed to have the water tested in the cove as well as the streams in that area.
“That’s why at a time of high rain fall we’ll sometimes close the beach for two days.” The Board of Health regularly tests beaches and public swimming areas in town; Thoms, however, is asking for testing in an area that is not a public swimming area.
“Testing should include measurement of fecal coliform, Enterococci, and E. coli bacteria,” he wrote.
Results will be available to the public on the town website.
Those 50 houses weren’t connected to the town sewer system because of cost, according to Wedmore.

Pennsylvania fines WPX $1.2M for 2012 water contamination.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced WPX Energy Appalachia has agreed to pay a $1.2 million fine for oil and gas violations that impacted groundwater and private water supplies in Westmoreland County, Kallanish Energy reports.
“When leaks and other impacts do occur, the responsible party must remediate the damage and restore the resource,” said acting DEP secretary Patrick McDonnell, in a statement.
In September 2012, testing of five private water supplies indicated they were impacted by a leak from an on-site impoundment into the groundwater at the Kalp wellsite in Donegal Township, the state said.
The impoundment was drained within a week of the leak being discovered, the state agency said.
The affected households were provided with bottled water and treatment systems have been installed.
DEP is regularly evaluating those systems to ensure the drinking water is safe.
The civil penalty was paid into the state’s well plugging fund with the $1.2 million based on the impact to the water supplies and the severity of the leak, DEP said.
WPX must also deal with remediation of any contaminated soils, groundwater and surface water impacted by the leak under Pennsylvania laws.

Drought-busting winter storms have another upside: cleaner air.
The epic rainfall that has pummeled Southern California this winter has lifted the area out of extreme drought – and it’s also been great for air quality.
Strong winds blow smoke, soot and particulates out of the L.A. basin, while rain rinses the air clean.
Air pollution has exceeded federal standards for particulate matter on just 7 days since November 2016.
Compare that to 35 days in the same period in 2014-2015, the worst winter of the drought.
During the drought, pollutants built up in stagnant, dry air.
Summer in Southern California is smog or “ozone” season.
Winter, meanwhile, is particulate-matter season because of the added pollution from wood-burning stoves.
Seasonal fog and cloud help particulates form in the air.
The SCAQMD issues burn bans throughout the winter when the agency thinks particulate matter is going to reach unhealthy levels.