There is lead in the Oneida school district’s water supply, in spite of what you’ve heard from the school district recently.
Lead in Oneida Water
Lead is cumulative neurotoxin, which is particularly harmful to young children. The EPA declares that the safe level of Lead in drinking water is 0 parts per billion (ppb). Lead is impossible to detect shortly after exposure, but causes lifelong mental degradation and behavioral problems. There is no cure for lead poisoning.
The current superintendent of the Oneida School District, Mary-Margaret Zehr said during her public interview last spring that the first responsibility of the school system is the safety of our children.
The Oneida School District was recently forced by state regulation to test all the water outlets in its schools, and required the District to remediate (fix) water outlets with more than 15 ppb, though the safe level is 0 ppb. For those that didn’t read the detailed report on the school’s web site, the highest level reported was 1000 ppb, or 67 times the mandatory action level. Most concerning, that level was in the Willard Prior preschool room’s faucet — the children who would be most affected by lead exposure. Every student-occupied building Oneida school district contains lead in the water–even after remediation.
What makes this truly alarming is that the District has characterized the majority of the water lines in the district as “Pass”, when according to EPA regulations, those lines contain unsafe levels of lead, even in elementary schools with small children most impacted by lead.
The district has said that they have no plans to remediate the remaining outlets–almost all of which are unsafe by EPA standards.
I’ve asked for cost information for remediations completed so far, and was told that there are no records of cost, presumably because the costs were so low that we don’t keep records of the repairs. I’ve met with the Superintendent twice to discuss this, and exchanged follow-up emails, but I’ve been told that the District has no plans to remediate the remaining lead-contaminated water lines, because they are not required to by law, in spite of the long-standing EPA position that the “residual” levels are unsafe.
There are cost-effective ways that the school district could address this issue, if cost is any issue at all. They could for instance install lead filters in the water fountains and kitchen faucets.
However, the position that unsafe levels of a cumulative permanent poison in our school district water lines should be unacceptable to the Administration, the Board, the public and especially those with children in schools.
Ms. Zehr is conducting a budget community forum on February 15 at the high school. I encourage every reader to make your views on lead in school water, and whether we should spend a few dollars to stop poisoning our children in this year’s budget.
This same piece, with slight modifications, appeared in the Oneida Dispatch on February 14, 2017.