Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Petition For Safe Lead Free Water in PGCPS Schools & Informing the Community About Lead Levels in Our Drinking Water
Sign and share our petition for clean safe drinking water in our schools.
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
PGCPS Refuses To Release Information on When Water Fountains Were Turned Off and Allows Lead Contamination in Water
PGCPS sent me a letter in response to my questions. Key takeaways from the letter include:
1. When asked for the list of water sources/fountains that are shut off with the date of the shut off PGCPS refused to provide the information and stated, "Response: The information requested is informally maintained in Building Services as an internal reference document only."
2. Despite being informed that the EPA, California Department of Health and American Academy of Pediatrics recommend under 1 ppb for lead contamination in water PGCPS stated that "Prince George’s County Public Schools will continue with the action level of 10 ppb."
3. When asked why Glenridge Elementary had special precautions taken such as all the water turned off, no matter what the lead level (unlike other schools whereto water was left on that was lead contaminated at between 1 and 10 ppb lead) the answer was"Glenridge's water being turned off was a decision made by building staff based on the situation at that time. This was a one time incident occurring at one school."
4. When asked why parents are "not being informed of the lead levels" the answer was " Principals are notified by the Department of Building Services and provided the results of the testing."
5. When asked why several schools lead in water test results were not posted at http://www.pgcps.org/water-quality-program/ PGCPS answered that thy would soon be posted. In fact they were posted at the end of March and they show Bowie High with several water sources that exceed the US EPA cut offs as well as that exceed the PGCPS limit.
6. The County avoided answering several questions posed such as
In conclusion, PGCPS inaccuratly states that "students have access to safe drinking water through drinking sources that are "ten parts per billion" (referring to amount of lead contamination the county alllows) or less or though provided bottled drinking water."
This statement of safety by PGCPS is inaccurate as lead in water is not safe and ten parts per billion is not safe according to the EPA, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC. There is no safe level of lead for children.
We call on the County to inform parents of the lead levels their children have been exposed to and to reduce the allowable lead level to 0 ppb.
1. When asked for the list of water sources/fountains that are shut off with the date of the shut off PGCPS refused to provide the information and stated, "Response: The information requested is informally maintained in Building Services as an internal reference document only."
2. Despite being informed that the EPA, California Department of Health and American Academy of Pediatrics recommend under 1 ppb for lead contamination in water PGCPS stated that "Prince George’s County Public Schools will continue with the action level of 10 ppb."
3. When asked why Glenridge Elementary had special precautions taken such as all the water turned off, no matter what the lead level (unlike other schools whereto water was left on that was lead contaminated at between 1 and 10 ppb lead) the answer was"Glenridge's water being turned off was a decision made by building staff based on the situation at that time. This was a one time incident occurring at one school."
4. When asked why parents are "not being informed of the lead levels" the answer was " Principals are notified by the Department of Building Services and provided the results of the testing."
5. When asked why several schools lead in water test results were not posted at http://www.pgcps.org/water-quality-program/ PGCPS answered that thy would soon be posted. In fact they were posted at the end of March and they show Bowie High with several water sources that exceed the US EPA cut offs as well as that exceed the PGCPS limit.
6. The County avoided answering several questions posed such as
In conclusion, PGCPS inaccuratly states that "students have access to safe drinking water through drinking sources that are "ten parts per billion" (referring to amount of lead contamination the county alllows) or less or though provided bottled drinking water."
This statement of safety by PGCPS is inaccurate as lead in water is not safe and ten parts per billion is not safe according to the EPA, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC. There is no safe level of lead for children.
We call on the County to inform parents of the lead levels their children have been exposed to and to reduce the allowable lead level to 0 ppb.
PGCPS Letter on Questions About Lead Contamination in PGCPS School Water Sources March 31, 2018 by Safe Tech For Schools on Scribd
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)