New Haven is not Flint, according to a new analysis of drinking water in the city’s public schools.
Not even close.
City of New Haven
Results of the city’s analysis of drinking water samples taken from public schools.
The Health Department tested the schools’ water between May and July, after the contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, where lead from corroded pipes crept into the water supply, set off alarm bells across the nation.
Only one of the 305 water samples taken across the 45 schools whose results have come in was even slightly contaminated. And when the water fountain in question — at Mauro/Sheridan Magnet on Fountain Street — was retested, the water was found to contain an acceptable level of lead. according to data provided Wednesday to the Independent.
“There is no concern for lead within the school system’s drinking water,” said city Environmental Health Director Paul Kowalski. “I didn’t suspect any issues to begin with, but I wanted to prove it.”
Kowalskio ordered the tests last spring after he heard on the radio that some New York schools were testing for lead in the wake of the Flint crisis.
He told the Independent that the results should not come as a surprise: the Regional Water Authority takes numerous measures to keep the city’s water supply safe, including regular checkups to ensure that local reservoirs are free of contamination.
“We have a protected water supply. We don’t have lead lines. The water supply is tested weekly,” he said. “Very different from Flint.”
Will Clark, the chief operating officer for the Board of Education, attributed the test results partly to school construction standards that prohibit lead pipes and fixtures.
“The combination of our School Construction program and the proactive work of the Water Company protecting the pipes in the streets has thankfully placed New Haven, and in particular New Haven Public Schools, in a favorable position relative to this issue,” Clark stated in an email.
Another water analysis — conducted in April by EnviroMed Services, an outside contractor, before the health department study began — found only one instance of lead contamination in the city’s schools. It came from a sample taken from a “drinking water bubbler” outside room B204 in Hillhouse High School. It showed lead levels of 45 parts per billion, three times higher than the drinking water standard set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The report by EnviroMed recommended follow-up sampling at Hillhouse, as well as the removal of the water bubbler. Clark told the Independent that the problematic fixtures have already been replaced.
“If you look at the documentation, you will see hundreds of negative tests across the board, which is the rule,” Clark said. “Any exceptions are isolated and immediately remedied.”
According to Kowalski, the Hillhouse result does not necessarily indicate a health hazard. Any ramifications would depend on the amount of water students consumed, he said.
