Hundreds of Mass. schools find high levels of lead in drinking water

BROCKTON, Mass. — Oahn Truong's three daughters never depend on the water fountains at school to quench their thirst.

"They have their own water every day to go to school with," the Brockton mother said as she pulled bottled water and thermoses out of her refrigerator.

Several months ago, Truong's twin 9-year-old daughters came home with a letter from Hancock Elementary School. Tests revealed high levels of lead coming out of the school's faucets. One of Hancock's bubblers tested more than 2,000 times over the state's limit for lead, according to data from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Nearly five dozen faucets in the school were found to be over the state's action level of 0.015 milligrams per liter (mg/L).

"I have a water bottle for my children all the time, so I hope it won't affect them much because they don't drink from [water fountains and bubblers] a lot," Truong said.

Hancock Elementary is not alone. In the last 12 months, more than a thousand schools across Massachusetts tested their water fixtures; 645 schools -- around 61 percent -- found at least one faucet over the state's limit for lead and copper, according to state data.

The acceptable limit for lead in the water is 0.015. Results below that appear in green, which results above that appear in red.

Schools that failed tests were told to remove and replace the fixture, then notify parents.

"It's a lot of schools but it was typically a small number of fixtures in those schools," Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Martin Suuberg said.

The agency reviewed more than 130,000 test results and found "kitchen kettles and classroom faucets" were most likely to contain high levels of lead and copper.

Governor Baker launched the Assistance Program for Lead in School Drinking Water in 2016. The program helped schools, many that hadn't checked their faucets in years, through the testing process.

Wamsutta Middle School in Attleboro physically disconnected 28 faucets after tests revealed high levels of lead and copper.

15 faucets inside Burr Elementary in Newton failed tests, including a bubbler in the daycare.
 
"First of all, it's good that they found it, and now they know, and now they can take action to deal with it," Suuberg said.

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Dr. David Bellinger is a professor of Neurology at Harvard University and Children's Hospital. He's studied the effects of lead for almost forty years and says its vital to know what kids are putting in their bodies.

"School is one potentially important environment for children because they spend so much time there. They not only drink from water fountains but also presumably the school staff that prepares lunches is using the water supply in preparing the food.

"There is no safe level of lead. Lead has no positive function in the body," Dr. Bellinger said.

The assistance program is voluntary. Less than half of Massachusetts 1,800 schools participated. Some school districts, like Boston Public Schools conduct their own testing and do not report their results to MassDEP.

"We'd like to have more schools participate. And luckily, with the resources we have we're going to be able to offer a follow-up program," Suuberg said.

More rounds of tests are coming this fall. Suuberg said there is around $600,000 left over from the first phase of the assistance program. Phase Two launches this school year. 

"This is ongoing work. We need to continue doing this work until we are sure we've gotten all the lead out of the system," Suuberg said.

MORE: State testing for lead in school drinking water

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