UPDATED: Elevated Lead In SOMA Schools’ Water Still Present

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Another round of testing on the South Orange-Maplewood Public School District’s water fountains and plumbing fixtures is complete following the discovery of elevated levels of lead, but the data may be more confusing than conclusive.

On Tuesday, SOMA district administrators announced that out of 225 water samples taken throughout the district in August, 13 fixtures had “elevated lead” above the U.S. EPA action level.

That total is higher than in May, when SOMA district administrators discovered that elevated lead levels were found in nine out of 223 samples in the district, including a girls' locker room, a teachers' lounge and the concession stand at Underhill Field.

• See related article: Maplewood, South Orange Schools Find Elevated Lead Level In Water

Adding to the confusion, in July, SOMA administrators announced that after a second round of testing, only two out of nine drinking water sources at its schools retested positive for lead levels “above the safety guidelines.”

• See related article: New Testing Shows Less Lead In Drinking Water, Officials Say

SOMA administrators gave an update about the most recent round of tests on Tuesday:

“As you may recall, in May 2017, SOMSD tested all of our plumbing fixtures which provide drinking water or water used in food preparation, and nine were found to have elevated levels of lead at that time. This summer, the district repaired water fountains and remediated all plumbing fixtures which provide drinking water or water used in food preparation by replacing some fountains with new fountains containing built-in filters, and by installing filters on other existing fountains and food preparation sinks."

According to SOMA administrators, Lew Corp drew water samples the weekend of August 19, 2017, retesting the remediated plumbing fixtures:

• Lew Corp tested 225 plumbing fixtures
• 13 fixtures had elevated lead in the retesting
• 20 results have not been returned
• 15 plumbing fixtures are currently not working
• 2 plumbing fixtures have been permanently removed

“The 13 plumbing fixtures which failed the testing will be remediated and retested again," SOMA administrators stated. "All the drinking fountains that did not meet safety standards, which are not currently functional, and/or for which we did not receive test results will be turned-off and covered until we receive the final test results confirming that the water is safe. No water fixture will be put back on line unless and until it has passed the testing. We will send out an update once we receive the results of the retesting.”

CONFUSING RESULTS

In July, following the second round of testing, SOMA Superintendent John Ramos stated that he was aware the differences in results might be confusing.

“The Board of Education and district administration continues to have more questions than concrete answers, especially around the variance in the testing results, even within a single water source such as the Seth Boyden water fountain,” Ramos stated.

“According to our lead testing company, Lew Corp., lead results can and do vary, depending on a number of often changing factors, including water velocity, temperature and the amount of time water is in contact with the building’s plumbing. Additionally, the routes that water flows through the plumbing system of the building and the plumbing materials that the water will come into contact with will vary depending on the frequency and duration of the use of the various water fountains and faucets throughout the school.”

UPDATE: 9/15

SOMA administrators provided the following update on Sept. 15.

"On September 5, we updated you that, after remediating all plumbing fixtures which provide drinking water or water used in food preparation this summer, our retesting of 225 plumbing fixtures found 13 with elevated lead.

"Since that communication, the district met with the lead testing company, Lew Corp. The purpose of the meeting was to determine why a plumbing fixture that was filtered would fail a follow-up lead test. Lew Corp explained that first it was important to note that the data does not show that the water supply is an issue. There were a large number of samples taken during the last few months and a small percentage of plumbing fixture show elevated levels of lead, signaling the water supply is not the issue. Lew Corp stated that they have seen fixtures fail testing because cutting pipes and installing filters can leave debris in the system.
Our next step is to use a process of elimination to determine the cause of the problem. The fixtures that tested for elevated levels of lead after remediation will be flushed and retested. If results come back clear, this would confirm that leftover debris from the work was the cause.

"The district is continuing to complete repairs on remaining units and is scheduling testing for recently repaired plumbing fixtures and re-testing the units that did not meet safety standards when schools are closed next week. It may take up to three weeks for the results. The plumbing fixtures which have not tested clear will remain turned-off and offline until tests show that they are safe to use."

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