Lead in water from fountain at Chesterfield middle school was nearly three times what state considers unacceptable

That water fountain at Salem Middle School in Chesterfield County has since been replaced, and was rarely used to begin with, Salem Principal LaShante Knight wrote in a letter to parents.

It was also the highest of Chesterfield’s 137 “water outputs” that tested above the state threshold and were used for drinking. Of the 137 outputs flagged for the amount of lead in the water, nine were drinking sources.

Other school systems in the Richmond area also are taking a closer look at lead levels in their drinking water after a state law enacted last year required them to create and implement a testing plan.

Lead in water is measured in terms of parts per billion. The water fountain at Salem Middle School produced water that had lead levels of 56.5 parts per billion. The state considers lead levels of 20 parts per billion or more to be unacceptable. 

Despite those rules, the Virginia Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency stress that there is no safe blood lead level. In children, according to the VDH, the long-term effects of elevated levels of lead in children’s blood include slow development, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, reduced height and hearing loss.

Three water fountains at Midlothian High were part of the nine drinking sources with higher levels of lead, but the exact results weren’t detailed in a letter home to parents. Chesterfield school spokespeople were still working Monday to answer questions about the extent and cost of this year’s testing and prior testing.

The drinking source that tested the second highest was a water fountain at Swift Creek Middle, which came back at 44 parts per billion. The four other drinking sources were also water fountains, and tested from 20 to 35 parts per billion, according to letters sent home to parents from the principals of each of the schools.

A water fountain at Bellwood Elementary School tested at 25.3 parts per billion; a water fountain at Providence Middle School had 29.2 parts per billion; a rarely-used water fountain in the L.C. Bird High small commons tested at 21 parts per billion; and a water fountain in a Gates Elementary early childhood education classroom tested in November at 34 parts per billion.

In letters home to parents, the principals wrote that the fountains were taken offline, replaced and equipped with filters.

In total, Chesterfield sampled 3,700 water outputs in 47 Chesterfield schools. That was more than what was required by the state legislation passed last year.

The law passed in 2017 required local school boards to develop and execute a plan to test drinking water in schools built in or before 1986. Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, introduced the bill that required the testing. He made the push after realizing he couldn’t confirm that public systems in the city of Alexandria, where he works as the director of general services, didn’t have high levels of lead, though he suspected they didn’t. He said the results were alarming.

Chesterfield expanded on the state law this past school year and tested all water sources in schools built in 1987 or earlier.

Before that state law, school systems served by public water weren’t required to test, and Richmond-area school systems were a mixed bag as far as testing their older buildings for lead in drinking water.

Chesterfield schools voluntarily did some tests in 2016, none of which returned results above the threshold.

Henrico County tested water in April 2017 at 48 schools built before 1978. All the results were below the EPA action levels for lead and copper, spokesman Andy Jenks said last year.

“At the time, we were monitoring the events in Flint, Mich., and decided to be proactive and proceed with a testing update, even though Virginia school divisions are not required to do so,” Jenks said at the time.

Jenks said Monday that two water samples have required remediation by the school division. Neither involved drinking fountains. He didn’t provide details Monday about the exact levels of those two samples.

“One was a sink faucet in a science prep room at Rolfe Middle School, and the other was a computer server room sink at Montrose Elementary School,” Jenks said in an email. “The faucet at Rolfe’s science prep room was replaced, and additional testing was performed with passing results. The sink in Montrose’s server room was removed altogether. These sinks are not typically accessed by students.”

Henrico’s school system is also going above the requirements of the state law, sampling and testing potable water sources in all its schools. They are in the first year of a three-year testing plan. Schools are being tested based on their construction dates going from oldest to newest.

Jenks said 16 schools had been tested so far, which amounts to more than 1,000 samples that have either been processed or are being processed. About $30,000 has been spent on the testing.

Hanover’s school system hasn’t yet received results from this year’s testing.

Hanover schools spokesman Chris Whitley said the Hanover Department of Public Utilities tests all of the water provided to the county’s schools. The county provides water to all its schools except three that are serviced by wells. Whitley estimates that the total cost will be about $30,000 to develop a lead testing plan to comply with the new state legislation.

“All current testing should be completed within a month or so,” Whitley said in an email. “We will communicate any elevated lead levels and related information to parents that may be necessary.”

In February 2017, before the state law passed, Richmond schools did not conduct systemwide testing in response to the Flint crisis.

In response to a list of questions sent Monday about recent testing, Richmond schools spokesperson Kenita Bowers sent a frequently-asked-question sheet she said was passed out earlier this year.

The FAQ sheet said that one water cooler at four schools — J.L. Francis Elementary, Southampton Elementary, Ginter Park Elementary and George Mason Elementary — were tested and all samples returned levels well below 20 parts per billion. She didn’t respond to follow-up questions about when those tests were conducted, and when the FAQ sheet was distributed.

At Ginter Park and George Mason elementary schools in Richmond last summer, water fountains were shut down after preliminary reports of water testing showed high, but still legal, levels of lead.

Chesterfield school officials said they now want more specificity in the recently passed law.

“If these issues can be found even in a few locations in Chesterfield County, then we believe it should be required to have all sources tested across the state,” the Chesterfield letter sent home to parents says.