GOSHEN — An attempt by Goshen city officials to be proactive in searching for lead contamination revealed 46 elevated readings at schools within the city limits, according to data released Tuesday.
During the month of May, officials from city’s water utility department tested 619 sites at Bethany Christian Schools and Goshen Community Schools to determine whether the lead levels exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for schools.
That standard — 20 parts per billion — is less stringent than the state’s 15 parts per billion standard. For the purposes of the local test, city officials and school district leaders agreed to use the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s action level, said Kent Holdren, Goshen’s water superintendent.
About the results
During the first round of testing, which took place while students were in school, Goshen Community Schools had 46 sampling points across the district’s 10 buildings that tested higher than the 15 parts per billion standard.
Water utility department officials tested 592 water outlets across the school district, Assistant Superintendent Alan Metcalfe said.
Of those, 45 were faucets that provide water not intended for drinking, the majority of which were found in science labs at Goshen High School, he added.
As soon as the results from the first test came back, water was turned off to all of the outlets until a retest could be completed, Metcalfe said.
“We kept them offline until the retest came back and said they were clear,” he said.
After conducting routine maintenance consisting of flushing lines and cleaning aerators, the 46 outlets were retested.
Results from a classroom drinking fountain at Merit Learning Center and a teacher station sink in a Goshen High School science lab still showed elevated lead levels.
According to data provided by the city, the faucet at the teacher’s station in a science lab originally tested at 25 parts per billion. After the retest, results showed a lead concentration of 30 parts per billion.
“That faucet was not accessible to students and not intended for drinking water for staff,” Metcalfe said.
The second site — a drinking fountain at Merit — had a lead concentration of 18 parts per billion and, after the retest, tested at 21 parts per billion.
At Bethany Christian Schools, a faucet in the ceramics classroom at the school’s art barn had an initial reading of 41 parts per billion. After the retest, the results showed 36 parts per billion, according to city data.
Principal Hank Willems said Tuesday the faucet is not a location where students would get water to drink and added the fixture will be replaced before students remove to class in the fall.
“We have to give credit to the city of Goshen for being very proactive in this testing process,” Willems said. “From my understanding there are only a half-dozen cities in the state doing this. It’s better to know and be able to correct the issue.”
Not in the pipes
Metcalfe said Goshen school officials were surprised to some extent to find that so many water outlets tested higher than the 15 parts per billion mark, but were pleased to learn that the issue was not the water in the pipes, but rather the fixtures themselves.
The same was true at Bethany Christian Schools, Willems said.
The source sites — the place at which water enters the building and travels throughout — at each building tested well below the federal standard, Metcalfe said.
“We were a little surprised especially because of all the renovations in recent years,” Metcalfe said. “...We assumed that these classroom faucets were being run by students and teachers on a regular basis, but now we know that’s not necessarily the case.”
As a result, Goshen school officials plan to put procedures in place that include routine flushing and cleaning of the aerator in all classrooms.
“For example, when a custodian enters a room to clean it, we’ll ask them to turn on the faucet for 30 seconds to a minute. We’ll make it more of a routine and keep the water moving through those faucets,” Metcalfe said,
Over the course of the next few weeks, all science lab outlets throughout the school corporation will be replaced and retesting will continue in those areas until each unit meets the EPA standard, he said.
“We don’t want to take any chances when it comes to the safety of students,” he added.
Letters will be mailed to parents of Goshen Community Schools and Bethany Christian Schools students in the coming days.
Drinking fountains OK
In a press release from the city Tuesday, Mayor Jeremy Stutsman said he was pleased that out of the 251 drinking fountains tested, only one was identified as having slightly elevated lead levels.
“As Mayor, and especially as a father, it is reassuring to know that our schools in Goshen are in compliance with federal guidelines,” Stutsman said. “I am grateful for the participation of everyone involved in this testing. It was no small task.”
As part of the study, Goshen water utility officials on May 11 also tested five residential locations in Goshen. None of those sites exceeded the 15 parts per billion regulation, Holdren said.
Of the five testing sites, four had a lead concentration of less than 15 parts per billion. Those testing sites included homes in the 700 block of South Eighth Street, the 600 block of South Seventh Street, the 100 block of South Sixth Street and the 300 block of Queen Street.
The remaining site — in the 400 block of North Second Street — had a concentration of 1.7 parts per billion, still well under the EPA standard, Holdren said.
Goshen and Bethany Christian schools are not the first school corporations to find lead levels exceeding the federal standard.
In April 2016, nearby Baugo Community Schools was listed by The Associated Press as one of about 40 Hoosier schools with water systems that have exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s federal allowable lead levels in recent years.
Baugo’s elevated lead levels were found in 2015 when water testing officials checked bathroom faucets in the district’s administration center and a drinking fountain in the maintenance building and found a sample of 28 parts per billion. School leaders removed the drinking fountain and installed a new faucet in the bathroom.
While Hoosier schools are not currently required to test for lead levels unless the school is on its own water system, Holdren said he would not be surprised if state leaders push for a regulatory change in the coming months.
“I anticipate within the next year, we are going to see a lot of changes because of the Flint water crisis,” he said.