GRIDLEY — Gridley High School and Willows Intermediate School both tested positive for lead contamination, but the problem water fountains have been fixed, each district said.
The state mandates less than 15 micrograms of lead per liter of water, according to the California State Water Resources Control Board.
Since the test took place in the summer of 2017, both schools have taken action and addressed the drinking fountains using different methods.
Gridley High
Gridley High had one drinking fountain located at the library entrance which tested for more than 33 micrograms of lead per liter of water.
However, Director of Maintenance Operations and Transportation for Gridley Unified School District Terry Biladeau said the fountain shouldn’t have been tested in the first place.
“It’s really frustrating because the fountain in question was inoperable, completely shut off and not in use for over a year before the state officials arrived and tested it,” Biladeau said. “It was shut off with a key underneath and had been for quite some time. After it tested over the exceedance levels, we immediately took measures and completely replaced all the internal parts of the water fountain in question. That was done after we resampled the fountain’s water and even then it was deemed safe by state officials. Those tests came back as safe had no signs of lead contamination.”
Biladeau released a statement in early January on Gridley High’s website addressing the water fountain: “A second water sample was taken because one drinking fountain failed to pass the initial testing process. The water fountain was rebuilt it with new internal parts, and a second sample was tested. The second sample taken after the rebuild process passed the testing process and met the AB746 standards.”
An engineer with the water board reached by phone said Gridley High did resample its fountain in question twice and both times the samples came back with less than 5 micrograms of lead per liter of water.
Willows Intermediate
In Glenn County, Willows Intermediate tested positive for lead contamination in one drinking fountain that reached more than 65 micrograms of lead per liter of water. Willows Unified School District Superintendent Mort Geivett said it was simply a matter of stagnant water that sat too long for a fountain that was seldomly used.
“We quickly resampled the water again, and it came back fine,” Geivett said.
“The initial test was in light of the fact that the research said the existing water remained in the pipes and simply sat there a while and accumulated lead build up over time. Everything turned out fine for that second test when we resampled the water from that fountain once more water was circulated.”
Geivett stressed that many fountains which tested for high lead levels across the state aren’t frequently used.
“Again it’s all in theory,” Geivett said. “But that fountain had not been used for a while and usually they will flush it for a little while before they test it and that didn’t happen. When they came back and resampled it wasn’t an issue; it was a matter of flushing the line properly.”
Geivett said the district plans to replace nearly all water fountains among all schools after saying Willow Unified School District has just qualified for a grant dedicated to cleaning up contaminated water systems.
“We just qualified for a (State Water Board) grant for $130,000, and we will be replacing several drinking fountains including the one that tested positive,” Geivett said. “We will replace most of the drinking fountains in the district.”
This grant is separate from the state budget funds set aside to clean the pipes.
“Its a very competitive grant and you had to apply for it, and we were qualified and then selected,” Geivett said. This grant was for more smaller rural schools.”
Safe drinking water in California
The State Water Resources Control Board enforces the rule, which is an extension the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lead and copper rule. The rule requires water systems to monitor lead and copper levels at the consumers’ taps. If lead or copper exceeds 15 micrograms per liter, the problem needs to be fixed. If the level for lead is exceeded, the public has to be notified.
In the 2019-2020 state budget, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators agreed on a plan to fix contaminated drinking water systems around the state. Newsom has made it a priority to address the issue as the budget allocates $130 million to help clean up contaminated water systems.
State tests and monitoring mandated from 2017’s Assembly Bill 746 have culminated in over two years of data across California. Excessive levels of lead have been found in drinking fountains and faucets among California’s schools.
The test showed lead in excessive concentrations in the water coming out of at least 291 different drinking fountains, faucets and other fixtures in California’s K-12 schools, according to the water board. In most cases the fixtures have been fixed through multiple resampling efforts or have been replaced entirely, state records show.
