Six Battle Ground Public Schools campuses reported elevated levels of lead, a news release reported Monday evening.
Testing shows Amboy Middle School, Captain Strong Primary School, Chief Umtuch Middle School, Maple Grove School, Yacolt Primary School and the Lewisville campus administrative office have lead contents above the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended lead limit of 15 parts per billion.
It’s unclear just how high those lead levels were Monday night, or what water sources showed elevated levels of lead. District officials were not available for additional comment.
According to the release, the district shut off water sources that showed high levels of lead and is changing those fixtures. The district will work with principals at the affected schools to provide drinking water to students.
“We are concerned about the health and safety of our students, and have taken measures to address the results as swiftly and efficiently as possible,” Superintendent Mark Hottowe said in the release.
There could, however, be more results to come. The district submitted 2,000 samples from every source of drinking water across the district. Labs, which have been backlogged with tests, have only tested about 20 percent of the samples.
Battle Ground’s lead results were among the last to be released in Clark County. After Portland schools came under fire over lead-contaminated drinking water samples, Clark County’s districts began to test the potable water sources in their buildings. One school in Evergreen Public Schools, a school and an administrative building in the Camas School District and two schools in the Ridgefield School District tested positive for elevated levels of lead this summer.
