Parkway Elementary School and Fleetwood Elementary School are the most recent schools to undergo testing.
With a first round of lead tests completed for the water at Fleetwood Elemetnary School and Parkway Elementary School, no lead was detected in any of Fleetwood’s 13 water sources, and lead was detected in only one of 12 water sources at Parkway.
The lead tests are a result of a state mandate from this summer that required all public school districts in New Jersey to test their school’s faucets and fountains for lead within the next year.
The Mt. Laurel School District chose to conduct the testing as soon as possible, using student breaks from school this year to test locations throughout the district.
According to district business administrator Robert Wachter, of the 13 locations most recently tested at Fleetwood Elementary, including 10 drinking fountains and sinks in the nurse’s office, kitchen and teachers’ room, no lead was detected in any of the samples drawn.
Of the 12 locations most recently tested at Parkway Elementary School, including nine drinking fountains and sinks in the nurse’s office, kitchen and teachers’ room, lead was detected in only one fountain, measuring at 299 parts per billion.
As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s allowable limit of lead in water is 15.5 parts per billion, the fountain was immediately closed and scheduled for replacement.
According to the district, lead can cause serious health problems should too much enter a person’s body from their drinking water. The district also notes lead is rarely found in source water, and is much more likely to be the result of corrosion from pipes and other service line material.
In 1986, Congress required all new plumbing materials used in the construction of pipes and other water service materials to be made completely free of lead, which is why Wachter said the Mt. Laurel School District has first been testing the district’s older schools that were built before the mid-1980s.
Wachter also noted that Hillside Elementary and Countryside Elementary, two of the district’s older schools that were originally tested earlier this year, also recently underwent retesting.
Hillside’s three oldest drinking fountains originally tested for lead above the EPA’s allowable limit, with two of those fountains replaced and the remaining fountain removed. Of the two remaining fountains, no lead was detected upon retesting.
At Countryside, one fountain originally tested above the allowable limit for lead, and while it tested at acceptable limits after flushing, it was replaced.
Upon the recent retesting, that new fountain once again produced samples above the EPA’s allowable limit. According to the district, the fountain is being flushed again, per remediation recommendations, and further inspection and retesting will be conducted.
Wachter said the district is still planning Harrington Middle as its next location for lead testing, as the original part of the building is the only school in the district left to test that was built before 1986.
Wachter said Harrington is still on schedule for testing during the upcoming winter break.
To learn more about lead testing in the Mt. Laurel School District, visit www.mtlaurelschools.org for complete reports. The district also advises those looking for general information regarding the effects of lead to visit www.epa.gov/lead.
