(Slide through timeline for more information on the lead problem on campus) The issue of water contaminated with lead coming from Sacramento State’s drinking fountains and faucets goes back longer than the university had previously indicated, and a second phase of testing is set to begin.
Foran said he does not know what happened to the water sources in the Children’s Center, as he was told by the university that University Enterprises, Inc. — not Sac State — owns the Children’s Center, and would not allow Foran’s group to return, though he was told they would remediate the situation.
27 water sources were above 15 parts per billion, which is the EPA action level, meaning they legally must be shut off.
Additionally, the university sent out an email last week saying that after recent testing, all food establishments on campus have water sources under the EPA action level, but the final report on specific lead amounts have not come back.
Foran said the only responsible standard to use in his view is the California Public Health Goal, .2 ppb.
That’s a pretty big leap.” According to Foran, knowing where the untested sources are isn’t easy because the testing group was never provided with a comprehensive list of water sources on campus in the first place; the group made one on its own, and suspected it to be incomplete from the beginning.
When the testing group arrived there, it was told by officials that the suite dorm rooms could not be tested because residents were currently living there.
Sac State, under the direction of Parker, is choosing not to do so just yet without more comprehensive water testing.
Parker said at the time of the hiring that her goal was “using all professional standards in the profession of sampling, for occupational exposure, to make a definitive determination of what the water levels are first.” Foran believes that this step being taken by Parker and the university is unnecessary for multiple reasons.
“To me, the bigger issue here is that there are something on the order of almost 380 fountains and faucets on this campus that have lead concentrations above the California Public Health Goal,” Foran said.