Next Step Taken in Brick School Water Remediation
Fixtures will be replaced before next rounds of testing
Photos
Brick school officials are continuing to narrow down the source of elevated levels of lead in school water systems.
District officials recently received a report from an environmental testing firm which was required after an earlier round of mandated testing revealed the presence of lead in the water at five township schools.
Superintendent Dr. Walter Uszenski said Wednesday that two specific locations of lead in the second round of testing were determined to be two water fountains at Brick Township High School and two water fountains at Lake Riviera Middle School.
Those water fountains have since been replaced, and a third round of testing has been completed which, when the results come in, will determine whether the source of the lead are the fixtures themselves or piping deeper in the system, said Uszenski.
Replacing fixtures would be significantly less expensive than replacing the entire water delivery systems in schools, officials have said.
"One of the things they've been saying is that it could be the fixtures," said Uszenski, of experts consulted.
The district has spoken with representatives from the environmental firm and multiple public agencies on the matter.
Uszenski said the environmental testing firm hired to complete the tests, Garden State Environmental, has been asked by officials to expedite the finding of the results.
The latest round of testing on the new fixtures has included samples taken at multiple times of day, including after water has been sitting in the system and when water has been actively flowing through the system.
"We don't want to take any chances since this is the safety of our students and teachers," said Uszenski.
Regardless of the cause, all water systems will have to be cleared in a final round of testing before students and staff can access it again.
Though water use has been restricted since December, when the initial test results came in, officials at the time said that while the lead levels were elevated, they did not rise to the level of an immediate health risk.
The schools affected are:
- Drum Point Elementary School
- Brick Township High School
- Emma Havens Young Elementary School
- Lake Riviera Middle School
- Osbornville Elementary School
Tom Cular
11:38 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
I'm curious as to how two water fountains could contaminate an entire water system with lead in a building as large as the high school. I'm sure there are more than two fountains in the building, not to mention water for restroom, janitorial and kitchen use, that system should be well flushed on a regular basis.
Mrgrumpass
11:38 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
This is taking too long, cut out the dam lead and copper and replace it with plastic!
KC
12:18 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
But then when the plumbing bill comes in the seniors will come out in droves to vote the school budget down. They will say, " Let the students eat lead, because they are soft and I walked two miles to school without any shoes in the snow with a boulder tied to my back." These seniors want their monies to go on European cruises not to remediate lead in plumbing at schools. This is evidenced by their voting record. Greatest Generation My A$$.
Laura McHale
11:57 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
I will continue to send my son to school with 2 water bottles each day...sorry but don''t trust this story! The fountains in the high school are disgusting anyway.
KC
12:18 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
It was my understanding that water bottles are prohibited. I don't blame you one bit for doing this btw.
Laura McHale
12:05 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
that was true under Persi as superintendent, then, even the teachers couldn't have water bottles...for a while they were tough on it and then it seemed ok again. A ban on water bottles is just dumb, for a while it was because kids could bring in vodka, ok, they can do the same thing in their sodas...if a kid wants to do that, they will find a way but to take it away from all is punishing the ones that just need a damn drink of water and the water fountains have been gross for years...if the administrators/teachers wouldn't drink from them, then the students should have another alternative too, such as bringing their own.
DH
3:57 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
I find it hard to believe that they have no idea what kind of piping is in the school. They're simply trying to kick the can at our children's expense.
Tom Cular
4:09 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
@DH I have to agree with you. As a retired engineer involved with school and other public building construction for more than four decades, I find it difficult to believe two parts of the story. 1. That two water fountains caused the contamination. 2. They aren't sure what type of supply piping feeds the buildings.
I'm not sure about Brick, but for many years it was very common to use lead pipe to feed a building from the main in the street to the building, whether it be a residence or something larger. There are solutions available other than replacing all of the plumbing as another poster suggested, that would be cost prohibitave and probably unnecessary. In my opinion replacing two water fountains and stating that the issue is corrected is pure smoke and mirrors.
Tom Cular
4:09 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
I neglected to mention that most of the homes in Brick have copper plumbing with soldered joints, built prior to the ban on lead based solder for water systems. Just might give you something to think about.