Brandon Twp.-On Wednesday, the Oakland County Health Department informed the Brandon School District that lead exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acceptable standards has been detected in the drinking water at Belle Ann Elementary, Brandon Fletcher Intermediate and Brandon High School.
Although the source of the lead is still unknown, typically most lead in water comes from plumbing, not from the local water supply. The school district had been testing the drinking water monthly for lead and other contaminants prior to the EPA notice.
On Wednesday, as a precautionary measure the drinking fountains at the schools were turned off and drinking water was made available for students. The school district has emergency containers of fresh water available if the need arises.
‘There’s no immediate health risk to children,? said Bart Jenniches, Brandon School district superintendent. ‘The lead action level, although unacceptable, would have to be ingested in large quantities over a long time period of time to become a health risk.?
On Jan. 14, a notice was sent home to parents of students responding to the findings and a ‘Public Education Statement,? was also posted in the schools.
‘Right now we’ll try to isolate the problem and once that happens send water samples in each week,? said Jenniches. ‘The school is taking a proactive approach to the lead, and will treat the issue with concern.?
The EPA mandated procedures and set an ‘action level? of lead at .15 parts per billion (ppb). Once the amount of lead has exceeded that amount then the amount of lead in the tap must be reduced.
According to the report from the Oakland County Health Department, the recent lead testing that exceeded the .15 ppb for the Brandon School District include: Brandon Fletcher at .28, 17 Brandon High School at .17 and Belle Ann Elementary at .22.
‘It’s an action level (of ppb), it’s not a water violation,? said Rich Overmyer, chief of the noncommunity unit, DEQ Water Divison after reviewing the report.
‘These numbers are not huge numbers. If the school was not doing anything I’d be concerned. However, they are taking the necessary precautions to rectify the situation. The county advised them and they are dealing with the problem.?
Currently there are about 1,700 noncommunity public water supplies, like Brandon School District, in Michigan that have their own wells and serve more than 25 users each day.
‘In the last five years we’ve had about 10 such cases that have exceeded the .15 level of lead.?
Overmyer added that the primary exposure to lead poisoning is not water, but rather paint and soil, and the ingestion of lead from water is a very small part.
Recommendations:
Flush pipes before drinking water. Any time water has not been used for six hours or longer the more lead it may contain.
Use only cold water for consumption. Hot water is more likely to contain higher levels of lead.
Have water tested.