安迪的垃圾堆

有孩子在西雅圖的學區嗎? 記得注意一下學校提供的資訊. Seattle PI: Schools will bring in water —————————————– Seattle Public Schools will provide bottled water to about 70 schools after the winter break and test drinking water in all locations following an analysis initiated by a parent that showed high levels of lead and cadmium in drinking fountains. At a meeting last night, the board directed Superintendent Raj Manhas to undertake the testing and report back to the board by February with a plan on how to proceed with and fund any necessary repairs. “This is a critical health problem that we have to act upon,” said School Board member Dick Lilly. “We have to protect the health of kids.” John Vacchiery, the district’s director of facilities planning and enrollment, said the water testing would likely cost between $48,000 and $64,000. Providing drinking water to just 40 schools for a year, he said, would cost about $700,000. Vacchiery estimated it would cost roughly $10 million to replace galvanized iron pipes, a major source of lead contamination, in the 38 district schools built between 1900 and the 1960s. There are about 100 schools in the district. The issue arises at a crucial time for the district, which will put two major levies before voters in February. The board would have had to decide by tomorrow if it wanted to increase one of the levies to cover any water system repairs, but instead delayed a decision on how to pay for any remedial work. Manhas sent a memo to principals on Monday, acknowledging that the last comprehensive water testing and repairs at schools were done in the early 1990s and noted that the district has no consistent testing program in place. Public schools, with the exception of the few that have their own water source, such as a well, are not required by state or federal law to test their drinking water for contaminants. State standards are based on the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, passed in 1974 to regulate the country’s public drinking water supply. The act covers water suppliers such as Seattle Public Utilities but treats schools like private homes and other customers. Questions about drinking water quality came to light recently when Mark Cooper and Geoff Compeau, two parents who have children at Wedgwood Elementary School, began asking questions about the orange-colored water coming out of the school’s taps. Using reports of water testing done at the school a decade ago, Cooper and Compeau identified four fountains with lead levels exceeding the maximum allowable limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency. They took samples from the fountains last Friday and had them tested at a certified lab in Bothell. All four showed lead levels exceeding EPA limits of 20 parts per billion (ppb), and one of the four had cadmium levels higher than the 5 ppb EPA limit. One drinking fountain, located in a classroom, had lead levels 10 times over the limit. Cooper said he’s “outraged” at the district’s inattention to the problem, particularly since a 1993 district report recommended replacing all piping at four district schools – Wedgwood, Fairmount Park, Schmitz Park and Mann, which now houses NOVA alternative school. The report, which followed the comprehensive water tests, also recommended the district conduct random sampling to ensure lead levels stay within recommended levels and replace fixtures in fountains with lead levels over the limit. Vacchiery said to the best of his knowledge, the pipes at the four schools were not replaced. “I’m going to assume they were not,” he said. Vacchiery said there have been numerous facilities directors at the district since the early 1990s, he said, and he’s trying to determine at which schools repairs were done. Troy White, an environmental coordinator for the district, said additional water testing was done in 2000 and 2001, but it was limited to fewer than 400 samples at about 27 schools. Data released by the district appears to indicate that only one of the four schools cited in the 1993 report, Schmitz Park, was tested at that time. It showed lead levels over EPA limits in two fountains, one of them five times over the allowable limit. After 1993, there was a plan in place to flush water fountains on a regular basis to reduce lead levels, but Vacchiery said he didn’t know whether that plan was followed rigorously. Drinking fountains were replaced in many buildings, he said, but repairs “weren’t systematic.” In 1990, the district tested drinking water at 80 of its schools and facilities. At the time, it was determined that lead levels in drinking water “could be reduced significantly” by flushing the fountains periodically during the day. However, a staff report concluded that the best solution was to eventually replace the materials contributing to lead levels in the water. Elaine Packard, principal at NOVA, which was constructed in 1902, said her focus on water quality predates the district wide testing. “I knew that this building was old, and I knew that the pipes could have lead in them,” said Packard, who’s been at the school since 1974. For 15 years or more, she said, NOVA students and teachers have been supplied with bottled water “because I had committed to having drinking water we knew would be safe.” The school paid for the water from its own budget initially. Packard asked the district to test the water at least twice, she said. The water failed a lead-contamination test Packard estimated took place in the mid-1980s. Although the water fountains were shut off, sink taps remained on line, and district administrators urged her to flush the pipes by running the water for several minutes first thing in the morning. Fairmount principal Davy Muth, who’s been at the school since 1998, said she was not aware of any potential problems with the school’s water until district officials visited her yesterday and told her the water would be safe as long as custodians flushed the school fountains twice daily. Up to that point, Muth said, teachers and students drank the water. “We didn’t know any better.”