Routine water tests in taps at some Pacific Rim School District (SD70) recently revealed higher than acceptable levels of lead. The discovery has prompted the district to broaden testing to all schools and take preventive measures at affected schools.
In 2019 school districts began regularly testing water in their facilities under new Ministry of Education guidelines requiring testing to be done on a three-year cycle. In the Pacific Rim School District they test one-third of their schools every year on a rotating basis, acting director of operations Alex Taylor said.
"Testing is primarily for drinking water," he added, and testing occurs on faucets in washrooms, classrooms and drinking faucets. Health Canada stipulates lead levels must not exceed 0.005 mg/L (called the "maximum allowable concentration" or MAC).
Schools initially tested for lead included Maquinna and Tsuma-as Elementary schools in Port Alberni, Bamfield Community School, Wickaninnish Community School in Tofino, Ucluelet Elementary and Secondary schools and a Ucluelet maintenance facility. Testing sites at Bamfield School and the Ucluelet Maintenance Facility all passed.
Maquinna had nine sites fail the first test, recording slightly elevated levels of lead. Three of those sites also failed a "flushing" test where water was flushed through the sytem and tested again. In those cases the taps were turned off.
Tsuma-as Elementary had one tap in a boys' washroom come back with elevated levels of lead, 0.0069 mg/L on the first test, and pass the flushing test with a reading of 0.0005 mg/L
Wickaninnish Community School had four sites with elevated readings. Ucluelet Elementary had two sites fail the initial test. Ucluelet Secondary had five.
Taylor said finding lead in water testing results is not uncommon. "All buildings built before 1990 likely have lead." In many instances the lead is present in welded joins and water from municipal sources pick up lead as it passes these soldered areas, he said.
To mitigate the effects, Island Environmental Health and Safety Ltd. (Island EHS) recommended the district implement a daily morning flushing program. Island EHS assured district officials this is sufficient to "reliably reduce" the concentration of lead to below MAC levels. This will be performed by each school’s administration prior to the start of school each day, to ensure that students have safe access to water upon their arrival.
For sites that failed the flushing test, the taps were immediately turned off and signage was put up warning people of the readings.
The long-term solution for sites that failed both the initial and flushing tests are to install NSF/ ANSI 53 filters so water to these sources can be turned on again, Taylor said. This process should take approximately two weeks.
Pacific Rim School District has contracted Island EHS to conduct immediate testing across all district facilities, that have not yet been tested as part of the regular requirements. This rigorous testing process is expected to be complete by the end of December, with results being made available to the public on the district’s website upon completion.
The district has posted its water testing results online at https://www.sd70.bc.ca/page/9129/water-testing.
