Drinking water at two buildings in the Ridgefield School District tested positive for elevated levels of lead, the district announced Wednesday.
Superintendent Nathan McCann was on his way back to his office following an after-school celebration with staff in honor of the last day of the school when he was told that samples from Ridgefield High School and View Ridge Middle School tested above the Washington State Department of Health rule of 20 parts per billion and the federal limit of 15 parts per billion.
“We’re treating this as our top priority right now,” McCann said. “As soon as we knew about this, we communicated it to the staff and parents.”
McCann said the district only has the preliminary report, and the full written report is expected to come in Thursday. The district won’t be sure which water sources tested positively and what their levels are until the written report comes in.
In the meantime, the district put signs on all drinking sources in each school and has bottled water in both locations. McCann said both schools also have refillable water bottle stations with filters, and on Thursday, district officials will check to make sure the filters are clean.
Since Wednesday was the last day of school for students, McCann said both buildings will be mostly unoccupied for the near future. He said secretaries will be at both locations for another week and a half or so, and the principals of both schools will be there through June. Teachers might stop by the schools to finish up some end-of-the-year tasks, McCann said, but they aren’t required to be there.
There are some summer activities at both locations, mostly at the high school, McCann said, but those don’t start for another couple of weeks.
Once the full written report comes in, McCann said the district will conduct further testing and then figure out what needs to be done to ensure the drinking water is safe.
In local water supplies, the Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency prescribe regulations that limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems. Lead in drinking water primarily comes from plumbing installed prior to 1986.
“The most common problem is with brass or chrome-plated brass faucets and fixtures with lead solder, from which significant amounts of lead can enter into the water, especially hot water,” according to EPA’s website.
Clark County schools have been prompted to test their drinking water this spring after a test in Portland schools found multiple problems with water there.
So far, water sources at Dorothy Fox Elementary School and the Zellerbach Administration Center in the Camas School District and Image Elementary School in Evergreen Public Schools were found to have elevated levels of lead.
