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The Renfrew County District School Board says it is following the law to the letter when testing for lead in school drinking water.
A study released earlier this month said that said that lead levels in school drinking water exceeded the federal limitations. Several schools from the RCDSB were tested, with some schools reporting up to 50% above the threshold. Schools like Barry’s Bay Alternative School and Madawaska Valley District High School were found at some point to have water higher than the threshold.
However RCDSB Communications manager Jonathan Laderoute says the school board takes action immediately on higher thresholds. He says by regulations, school districts have to do the testing annually at minimum, testing both the sources and the taps for lead. In the event of a higher threshold, Laderoute says a filter is applied and then daily water samples are taken for two years. That data is shared with the Ministry of Education and the Health Unit. In some cases he also says that the taps are taken out completely. He says that some times water can have higher lead content than others, especially during the colder months.
However, Laderoute says despite the thorough testing, he does say that the school board needs to do a better job of communicating with parents. He says that it is not enough to merely publish a sheet, and the RCDSB will commit to being more open with parents. Laderoute says he has already heard a lot of feedback from them already.
He says that all the testing data can be found here.
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