With testing complete, schools plan lead remediation




After lead was found in Garden City school district water at multiple buildings and sources during the fall, the Garden City school district appears to have its orders for correcting potential water and health-related problems.

At the November 15 school board meeting, the district announced that it has concluded testing on water sources including sinks Dr. Feirsen describes as “slop sinks” where mops are wrung out and floor washing water is obtained. He explained that from the custodial staff to the administration, it’s believed that nobody has tried to drink water from such water locations in many years. But after water from drinking spots such as fountains in the new wing at Homestead School were found to contain lead, results caused concern and the Nassau County Department of Health “decided” that the district had to test almost every source of water it has.

“First we tested the places people usually get drinking water from including water fountains and faucets, and we found a few spots that exceeded the threshold. (After the Health Department mandate) we tested hundreds of spots throughout the district and a number of them came back above the threshold….We don’t really see a lot of people putting a water bottle there to fill it up. Nevertheless we will try to remediate everything. In some cases that may be as simple as removing and changing the aerator at the end of the faucet, or in some cases it can be replacing the faucet. Other spots may need a filter installed, or for other water sources they could need to be shut down permanently,” Feirsen explained on November 15. He says GCUFSD is in the process of “figuring out how to deal with that.”

The district’s goal now, although some sinks and water sources are out of the way, is exploring each possible fix or remediation and getting an accurate assessment. Feirsen vowed that nothing (no water source) tested and revealed above the threshold is being used by students, faculty or anyone else at school building.

“Everything has been labeled. We’ve started the process of remediation but we are not finished. Certainly we will keep the school board and community apprised as we go,” he said last Tuesday.

In a report from the district’s environmental and construction consultant, J.C. Broderick & Associates of Hauppauge, dated Thursday, November 10 and currently available on the GCUFSD website, it was stated that 93 drinking outlets throughout GCUFSD were sampled and a total of 13 were initially found to contain leave “above the action level” which was lowered in summer from 20 parts per billion to 15 parts per billion. The data in the report uses abbreviations 20ppb AL and 15ppb AL, short for “parts-per-billion Action Level.”

The consultant’s report details two sampling steps: “initial first draw” and “follow-up flush” samples. Of the spots tested, a few in the district have come back with results that show contaminant over 15 parts per billion. They include in Homestead Elementary School, the water cooler in the hallway by Room 14; at Garden City High School a faucet in a kitchen-outlet, and at Garden City Middle School, a kitchen faucet in the kitchen serving area, the outside hose bib by the kitchen’s garbage room and a sink in the Nurse’s Office. All other results in the report show locations of water outlets with lead present over 20ppb AL.

The report also indicates that school buildings’ water containing lead – in either sinks connections and taps or fountains, bubblers or coolers – serves as grounds for Garden City Schools to have “a plumbing profile” as recommended by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines “3T’s for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools.” The consultant’s report contained relative background.

“Even though water delivered from your community’s public water supply must meet Federal and State standards for lead, you may still end up with too much lead in your drinking water because of the plumbing in your facility and because of the building’s water use patterns. The physical/chemical interaction that occurs depends on various factors such as the lead content of the building’s plumbing and piping system, water velocity, temperature, alkalinity, chlorine levels, the age and condition of plumbing and the amount of time water is in contact with the plumbing. Therefore, the critical issue is that even though your public water supplier may send you water that meets all Federal and State public health standards for lead, you may end up with too much lead in your drinking water because of the plumbing in your facility,” the J.C. Broderick report stated.



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