Ellen Ishkanian of the Boston Globe has this update.
Last month [Chief Operating Officer Dori] Zaleznik told the Globe [2010] test results showed no problems.
On Thursday, Zaleznik clarified those remarks, saying the tests showed that there were no problems with the water at the drinking fountain tested. But, she said, the 2010 tests did show a level above the EPA standard of 15 parts per billion from water at one faucet at a sink in the school.
“When I answered that question about 2010 I was talking about the water tested at the drinking fountain, which was not above the threshold,” she said. “The sink where the level above the threshold was found was not used in food preparation, or for drinking water.”
Maybe now they will start looking at the fact that Burr was built on an area that was a dump.
Has the city done any testing of the abutters water? Maybe that would help clarify if this is a Burr Issue or a Pine Street Issue. And then they can start correctly looking for the source.
What the article doesn’t mention is that the sink in question, which was at 60.2 ug/L in 2010, was also above 15 parts per billion in a 2005 test – 16.1 ug/L. Only two sources were tested each time. I am having a hard time understanding how NPS was comfortable just assuming that all the other untested water sources in the building were safely below the actionable level.
An article in today’s Globe notes that Ward had a reading of 230 from a kitchen faucet in 2014. I’m surprised that this isn’t generating more interest in the community as more of these results are slowly coming out. Given the fact that each school has only been tested every 5 years or so, and that only 2 sources are tested each time, this problem could be much more widespread, as the article points out. When one fixture in a school tests high, EVERY source needs to be tested. Had that been done at Burr after high tests in 2005 and 2010, maybe we wouldn’t be where we are now. http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/06/tests-found-schools-mass-districts-with-high-lead-levels-water/0prm4JC9cnag3FkiAXc8LM/story.html