Promise of statement on public school water issues

Tuesday, February 05, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City school officials say they will release a statement today or tomorrow explaining why the district delayed more than a year in conducting follow-up tests on tap water faucets that were flagged in 2006 as containing too much lead.

The promised press statement is also supposed to reveal details of the follow-up test results that prompted Superintendent of Schools Charles T. Epps on Thursday to stop students and staff from drinking water from fountains and taps at six schools - Schools 6, 25, 27, 31, 11, and 23, said district spokesman Gerard Crisonino. The School 23 Annex is not affected.


Last Friday, the district said it hoped to make a statement yesterday with representatives of Cranford-based PMK Group, the district's environmental consultant, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Tests by the EPA in August 2006, which were reported to the district the following month, showed higher than acceptable lead levels in the water at the six schools where Epps took action, plus Schools 8 and 28.

Some of the results were more than 40 times higher than the EPA standard for lead in drinking water - no more than 20 parts per billion.

Follow-up tests by PMK from last Sept. 6 to 13 narrowed the focus to six schools, officials said.

Since Thursday, the district has been spending roughly $276 a day to provide a total of 96 five-gallon jugs to the six schools where the problem exists.

Meals are prepared at three of the schools - 23, 11 and 31.

"It's mostly fresh fruit and vegetables I'm dealing with," said Director of Cafeteria Susan Solleder. "The majority of the water is used for washing the pans."

A Coca-Cola representative said the company plans to donate on Friday a week's worth of its Disani-brand bottled water to the schools.

My spouse was quick to call this a Jersey problem, too, and claimed NYC is a large, more civilized city and such a thing would never happen there. So, I looked it up and found indeed it happened. Except, they never released the names of the schools or the level of the lead (to avoid outrage and law suits, I guess.) Their solution was to flush the systems periodically.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage ... 431F93AA35752C1A9649C8B63

How is Jersey City less healthy or humane for children/dogs when compared to NYC or Brooklyn?

I've seen this notion on these boards a few times, but never really seen a thorough case made...

If someone in your household is pregnant or you have young children in your home AND your home was built before 1978, you can request a free home lead test kit (for dust, not water) here:

NJ Lead Safe Program

Ah, yes! More good deeds from our friendly $230K-a-year Superintendent Epps. Well, at least HIS kids can afford to brush their teeth with Evian, right?

"But it remained unclear why Epps believed shutting these outlets solved the problem in 2006, but not yesterday, when he ordered staff to instruct students - some as young as 4 years old - not to drink water from the faucet."

It's ALL good, people.

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In terms of environment, yes. In terms of what will Al Qaeda do next, yet. But, on a day-to-day basis, in terms of general quality of life, Jersey City has been great. It's like living in the middle of a Sesame Street episode.

Right before I've done anything like find an ob/gyn, set up a bedroom, find school, etc., I've panicked, but everything's worked out really well, and, in general, I think my daughter is developing about the way her cousin out in Midwestern suburbia is developing.

Seriously, alb. Anyone who would choose to live in Jersey City with kids or dogs is a selfish dumbaxx. It ain't healthy or humane.

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Thanks.

My feeling is that a good service like this would be run by someone who knew which of the tests actually works, knows how to use the tests properly, and tests for a bunch of different substances, such as radon, mercury and chromium, in addition to lead.

But, anyhow, I feel sort of guilty having a child around here to start with. P.S. 5, for example, is a very well-run school, but it's right under a major highway, and that in itself is probably a pretty unfortunate thing, even if the water in the drinking fountains is lead-free.

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I wouldn't drink any unfiltered water in this town period, but you should still test the water if you live in an old house because taking a shower or washing your face can be bad for the kids too. Yoiu can buy water test kits where you take a sample and then send it off to a lab. here's one:

Lead in water test

At the very least, locate where your water comes into your house/building and look to see if the pipes are copper. If they are not copper then you might have a problem....

Alb maybe you found a career.

For $12.99 you can get 10 test kits for paint, toys, dust and even water. It doesn't say what level of lead is present, but it does tell you if there is any lead.

I think I have seen things like it at Lowes and at Home Depot.

http://www.leadinspector.com/?gclid=CLzft4ivo5ECFQmgGgodySiqew

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We have the lead test pencils for toys, etc., but how do you test your water?

I think if someone here who knows environmental testing would come up with some kind of $200 "home environmental check" and promote it here with a banner ad, you'd get a lot of business.

I wish I could get my apartment tested, but I have no idea who to call or what the testing should cost. When I look under this heading in the telephone directory, it looks as if the companies are all offering some kind of elaborate service aimed at developers, or possibly home buyers, and not a simple service aimed at parents who just want to know what's going into their kids.

Anyone test their home water for lead in the downtown area lately?

Schools warned about lead in '06, but still.
LEFT THE WATER RUNNIN'

Friday, February 01, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

More than a year after a federal agency warned Jersey City Public Schools that eight of its schools had unacceptably high levels of lead in its drinking water, school officials acted yesterday to stop students and staff from consuming water at six schools.

Letters were sent home with elementary students at Schools 6, 25, 27, 31, 11, and 23, as 5-gallon jugs of water were rushed to the schools.

"I'm nervous, but I don't know exactly what happened," said Maria Soliz, collecting her children, 5 and 7, at School 25 yesterday. "I'm going to give them bottled water."

In the letter sent home with students, Superintendent of Schools Charles T. Epps Jr. explains the discovery was made as a result of the district's voluntary involvement in a program run by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

"I was notified of the results late (Wednesday) night," said Epps, "that some schools had higher levels of lead than recommended by the EPA."

"As a precaution," he added, "I directed the water fountains in the six schools to be taken out of service immediately, and bottled water to be brought in for students and staff."

But EPA Region II spokesman Elias Rodriguez said his agency notified the district in September 2006 that eight schools had unacceptably high levels of lead.

In addition to the six schools where Epps is taking action, the EPA found unacceptably high levels at Schools 8 and 28.

In its tests, conducted in August 2006, the agency found levels at School 23 as high as 910 parts per billion. The EPA standard for lead in drinking water is no more than 20 parts per billion.

At School 11, the range was 21 to 340 parts per billion. At School 27, the agency found lead levels ranging from 23 to 230 parts per billion.

It's standard practice, according to the EPA, for districts to re-test when high levels are found and that's what Jersey City did - eventually, school officials said. Through his spokesman, Epps said the district immediately shut down the water outlets the EPA identified as problematic back in 2006. The district then paid a company to re-test those outlets, and those results narrowed the problem to the list of six schools he received Wednesday night, Epps said.

But it remained unclear why Epps believed shutting these outlets solved the problem in 2006, but not yesterday, when he ordered staff to instruct students - some as young as 4 years old - not to drink water from the faucet.

Epps said he is ordering tests on drinking water for every school in the district.

Alarming lead levels found at 6 Jersey City schools

Jersey Journal
by Ken Thorbourne
Thursday January 31, 2008, 4:16 PM

Six elementary schools in Jersey City have been found to have unacceptably high levels of lead in the drinking water, school officials confirmed today.

Letters were sent with students notifying parents about the problems as bottled water was delivered to all the schools, said Gerard Crisonino, a spokesman for the district.

The schools were the elevated levels of lead were found are: Schools 6, 25, 27, 31, 11, and 23. Water at the School 23 annex was found to have acceptable levels of lead, Crisonino said. The lead testing was discovered as part of the district's voluntary participation in a federal Evironmental Protection Agency program, Crisonino said. The program started last April, he said.

The cause for the higher levels of lead has not been determined, he added.

Lead poisoning can cause neurological problems, reduced cognitive abilities, nausea, abdominal pain, irritability, headaches, in extreme cases, seizure and coma.