District 15 to Test Lead Levels in School Buildings' Water Outlets Over Winter Break

PALATINE, IL — As a precautionary measure, Community Consolidated School District 15 will be testing the water fixtures in its 20 buildings for lead while students are on winter break, according to the Daily Herald.

District 15 officials say the testing is in response to the crisis affecting Flint, Michigan, where dangerous lead levels have been found in the city's drinking fountains, faucets, spigots and other water outlets, the report stated. Currently, there have been no indications of high lead levels in district water outlets, but the school system has only tested its water four times since 2013, and those tests were limited to Lincoln Elementary School, the report added.

No state or federal regulations require schools to conduct testing, but Palatine and Rolling Meadows — the villages where district schools are located — do their own routine testing of water outlets, the report stated. Testing will be done over the next couple weeks, and results should be avalable by mid- to late January, the report added.

RELATED: High Lead Levels Found in Sinks at 2 Palatine Catholic Schools

With its upcoming testing, District 15 joins several other suburban Chicago school systems and villages — such as Districts 115 and 67 in Lake Forest and the Village of Highland Park — that are checking the water outlets in their buildings to ensure lead levels aren't in the danger zone, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set at 15 parts per billion and greater. If a fixture tests above that level, the EPA requires the affected outlet to be taken offline until it's fixed.

Recently, the Archdiocese of Chicago also tested its Catholic schools in the city and suburbs for lead. The testing was conducted from July through September, and some of the findings included:

• a classroom sink at Our Lady of the Wayside School in Arlington Heights with a lead level of 22.1 ppb
• a sink in a non-student area at St. Theresa School in Palatine with a level of 18.1 ppb
• a hand washing-sink in a science classroom at Palatine's St. Thomas of Villanova School with a level of 15.3 ppb.

RELATED: High Lead Levels in Classroom Sink at Arlington Heights Catholic School

The affected outlets were taken out of service and repaired.

More via the Daily Herald

photo via Pixabay

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