Greensboro, N.C. – Guilford County Schools has hired a firm to conduct water quality tests on faucets and fountains used for drinking water, food preparation at 99 of its 126 schools.
In addition, the district plans to replace faucets and fountains that are more than 30 years old and do not meet “lead-free” requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1986.
New schools, those not currently in use will not be a part of this process.
Neither will schools that are housed on campuses owned and operated by local community colleges or universities.
While the process is underway, the daily water flushing protocol that takes place each weekday morning at the schools will ensure that students and staff have access to safe drinking water.
Water that is stagnant can absorb lead or other materials from the plumbing system. Flushing the system gets the water moving and helps remove possible contaminants, which are less likely to be present in the fresher water available after flushing than in water that has been in the pipes overnight.
At Allen Jay Elementary, Frazier Elementary and Southeast Middle, 30-year-old faucets and drinking fountains used for water consumption and food preparation have already been replaced.
Once the work is completed at Allen Jay, Frazier and Southeast Middle, testing will begin at the seven schools where the initial tests indicated lead levels were within recommended EPA guidelines. Those schools include Swann Middle, Penn-Griffin, Claxton Elementary, Kirkman Park Elementary, Foust Elementary, Morehead Elementary and Falkner Elementary.
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After each school is tested and inventoried, appropriate remedial measures will be taken. Once retests show the remediation is effective, school principals may then be advised they can stop the current precautionary measure of flushing water on a daily basis.
The project will take months to complete, and may continue into the next school year. The goal is to complete all testing prior to the start of next school year.
“We’ll continue to improve the process as we move forward through this next phase, and will have a better handle on district-wide costs once we get the first wave of more extensive test results back,” said Scott McCully, chief operations officer. “If we need to contract with additional plumbers to expedite the replacement process, we will do so.”
The district has more information on lead in water and the steps it has taken so far on a special webpage on www.gcsnc.com.
Test results will be shared as soon as possible with employees, parents and the public.
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