Sludge Watch ==> Toronto: Lead found in 5 school's drinking water

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Toronto has what is called "aggressive" water.  It scours the copper and 
lead from the pipes.  As a result, Toronto's wastewater sludge at Ashbridges 
Bay has incredibly high levels of copper ... about 1,250 parts per million.  
Soil in Ontario has less than 50 parts per million copper.

A few years ago Toronto turned to 'chloramination' a system of water 
disinfection that uses both ammonia and chlorine to keep down the bacteria 
in the drinking water delivery system.  It is well known that this can 
dangerously increase the level of lead in the water delivered to homes.

I addressed this issue to the Public Health Department years ago and they 
refused to investigate and respond to my complaints.

There is no 'safe' amount of lead in children's blood...all ingested lead is 
a 
neurotoxin.http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/about/news/release/2005/7-lead.htm



For more issue on the same problem in Washington DC
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/chloraminated_water.html

....................................................................

Lead found in 5 schools' drinking water
by Theresa Boyle, The Toronto Star October 14, 2007

Shipments of bottled water have been sent to five Toronto schools after high 
levels of lead were found in tap water.

Drinking fountains have been covered with bags and are temporarily off 
limits at Bliss Carman Senior Public School, Blythwood Junior Public School, 
Charles Gordon Senior Public School, HA Halbert Junior Public School and 
Victoria Park Collegiate Institute.

They have been that way for up to two weeks and it could take another week 
until the spouts are turned back on, said Chris Broadbent, manager of health 
and safety for the Toronto District School Board.

"We get a notification from the Ministry of the Environment and from our lab 
where we have an exceedence of the current acceptable standard. As soon as 
we are made aware of that ... we put the schools on alternate water," he 
said.

The provincial government passed a regulation under the Safe Drinking Water 
Act in June, requiring for the first time regular testing of drinking water 
in schools and daycares. The subsequent tests flagged high lead levels at 
the five Toronto schools.

Even though the lead levels exceed provincial standards, there's no reason 
for alarm, cautioned Dr. Howard Shapiro, Toronto's associate medical officer 
of health.

"At these levels, I wouldn't expect to see anything," he said.

He noted that people are exposed to lead from many sources, including food, 
air, soil and beverages other than water.

Asked about the fact that students and staff may have been drinking water 
from these fountains for a long time, Shapiro said there's still no cause 
for concern.

"You have to look at it in the context of all the other exposures," he said, 
noting that people are exposed to much lower levels of lead today than they 
were even 15 years ago.

"When I grew up, there was lead in gasoline, lead paint, (lead) solder in 
fixtures and solder in tin cans," he said.

"The lead levels in young people today are far lower that they were a 
generation or two generations ago," he added.

In the case of the schools' drinking water, the issue is not lead pipes, but 
lead in the solder used to join the pipes.

"The piping that's in schools for the most part is copper and the concern is 
that lead is in solder of the joints. In the City of Toronto, there wouldn't 
be a school that would be serviced by a lead service line because they are 
just not big enough to supply the amount of water that would come in," 
Broadbent said.

Because lead was used in solder up until the '90s, not only old schools are 
affected, he said.

"I don't think (age) is the issue. There is some suggestion that even newer 
schools could be a problem," he said.

The solution to the problem is simple and involves letting the water run for 
about five minutes before the start of the school day, Broadbent said.

"What's happening is the soldering in the piping comes into contact with the 
water that has been left standing and it leaches out. You flush that water," 
he said.

The drinking fountains will be turned back on following two positive sample 
tests seven days apart.

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