The Selkirk Elementary School Council has learned about elevated lead levels in drinking fountains and faucets at the school in Riverdale, according to a letter sent by email from the school council to Education Minister Jeanie McLean on the afternoon of May 9.
The school council is under the impression that 28 fountains and faucets in the school exceed current lead-level standards. It expects prompt action on the matter.
“We understand there has been direction from the department for teachers to ‘flush’ the fountains by running them for five minutes,” reads the school council’s letter.
The school council had questions and recommendations for the minister.
Those ideas include close all fountains and faucets by disabling them or covering them, offer an alternate source of drinking water for students and staff, conduct testing and determine a plan to fix the issue by the upcoming school year or keep providing the alternative drinking water source for the foreseeable future or until a new elementary school is built. It also wants open communications from the department to parents and caregivers in an “urgent manner.”
After a students’ science fair project found elevated lead levels in the water at Del Van Gorder School in Faro and following a review of 2018-19 test results of water fixtures, the Yukon government recently announced it will be further testing and possibly remediating water fixtures at 30 schools.
The department confirmed the science project prompted the additional testing across schools.
Meanwhile, Jack Hulland Elementary School is recommending that students bring water from home to school due to lead levels in that school’s drinking water fountains, according to an email to parents and guardians from principal Jeff Hills on May 9.
None of the water fountains at the school in Porter Creek meet the updated national safety guidelines for lead concentrations in drinking water, as noted in the email.
Continued testing and remediation will take place soon as needed, the email notes.
“We believe in the importance of open communication, transparency and collaboration,” reads Hill’s email.
“I understand your potential anxieties about this issue and will continue communicating with you as I gain more information.”
Hills wrote that he learned from talks with the superintendent and the health and safety management coordinator that if fountains are left running to flush out for five minutes each morning, then the water will be safe to drink.
In the meantime, the school has turned off all three fountains in the primary wing. The remaining fountains, bottle fillers and kitchen and staff room taps will continue to be flushed each morning, per the email.
Re-testing will be done at impacted schools over the next few months to check for compliance with Canadian water quality standards, per the government’s press release from early May. Any fixtures that don’t meet the standards will be remediated, with the goal to finish all work before the start of the 2024-25 school year.
“The Department of Education will ensure all schools have continued access to safe drinking water,” reads the release.
The additional testing and possible remediation are required because of changes to the Canadian drinking water quality guidelines.
Health Canada lowered the maximum allowable concentration for lead from 0.020 milligrams per litre to 0.005 milligrams per litre.
In the release, Dr. Sudit Ranade, the Yukon’s chief medical officer of health, assured Yukoners that "there is no short-term risk to health associated with water fixtures tested with lead levels slightly above the national standards."
“These standards are based on exposure to lead over a lifetime. Considering that children drink water from many sources, consuming water from these specific fixtures would not be enough to significantly affect their health or development.”
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com