Dozens of drinking water outlets within the Concord schools were taken offline, including two of the district’s newest building, after they came back positive for traces of lead higher than the state minimum levels for safe drinking.
High lead levels were detected in water samples taken from drinking fountains, classroom faucets and sinks in music rooms, classrooms, offices and kitchens throughout the district, including from the Broken Ground School, the Beaver Meadow School, the Christa McAuliffe School, the Mill Brook School and Rundlett Middle School. Samples taken from Abbot-Downing remained under the safe level of 5 parts per billion.
Of the 172 samples taken from the five schools where high levels of lead was found, 17% of them tested above 5 ppb, with the two highest samples reaching 96 and 146 parts per billion. New Hampshire state law requires that sample results at or above 5 ppb shall be reported and addressed. The federal Environmental Protection Agency, considers up to 15 ppb of lead in drinking water acceptable, and all but four Concord samples were below that amount.
State schools are required to test their water outlets every six years, and any outlets that test at or above 5 parts per billion are required to be remediated at the cost of the school district.
The data, which was published online, raised concerns for some parents who questioned Concord school officials over children’s safety. Another round of testing will be completed on all of the schools, in addition to Concord High School, in the coming weeks, with samples from both stagnant and running water to help school officials determine where the lead source is coming from. The school district is required to complete testing by June 2024.
“People are aware of the impact of lead, especially in young children, and we will take care of every single one of those water outlets,” said Superintendent Kathleen Murphy. “We have let our families and staff know that we are taking every step necessary to ensure that the water is safe to drink for our students and staff.”
Ingested or swallowed in high quantities, lead can be damaging to the nervous system and in particularly worse in children because they can absorb more lead, said Lea Anne Atwell, a lead expert with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Service. The impact could permanently damage a developing child’s brain.
“Lead is a naturally occurring element and not actually in the source of the water,” she said. “It was previously used in plumbing components, and it can get picked up in the water as the water is moving through the plumbing.”
It typically enters drinking water due to the aging of pipes, faucets and other plumbing materials, she said. More modern drinking water fixtures contain only trace levels of lead.
“The higher level could mean that the water was sitting in contact with that material for a longer period of time,” Atwell said. “The samples the schools and childcare facilities are required to collect have been sitting for 8 to 18 hours but if you let that water run for a bit, the level would likely be different. This could be thought of as the worst-case scenario.”
Lead testing is mandated by the state and federal government as a way to prevent childhood poisoning from paint and water with the hope of eliminating lead contaminants entirely. The schools within Concord have not been required to test since 2019. In 2022, a state bill was passed requiring all schools and childcare facilities to test for lead in drinking water and act when lead is found at levels at or above 5 ppb.
The schools have three options for remediation that include repurposing the sinks into handwashing stations only, replacing the faucets or taking them offline indefinitely, said Matt Cashman, facilities director for the Concord School District. Though the testing is mandated by the state, the cost of remediation is at the expense of the school district and was not anticipated for this year’s budget.
“In the budget, we have appropriations to address any kind of item that needs to be replaced, and we may have had some ideas about how to use that money, but we might have to change that up,” Murphy said. “We do not have cost estimates at this point.”
Water testing sample data showed higher than acceptable levels at the following schools:
Beaver Meadow School: Samples were collected from 40 water outlets, with 18 showing lead at levels above 5 ppb, including 11 classrooms that tested between 5 and 22 ppb, three water fountains that tested between 5.5 and 7.3 ppb, two kitchen sinks that tested 8.7 ppb and 42 ppb, a nurse sink that tested 7.94 ppb and a teacher cafe that tested 6.05 ppb.
Broken Ground School: Samples were collected from 33 water outlets, with six showing lead levels above 5 ppb, including two kitchen sink samples that tested 9.48 ppb and 13.8 ppb, a library office that tested 6.95 ppb, a music office that tested 146 ppb and two classrooms that tested 7.35 ppb and 9.72 ppb.
Christa McAuliffe School: Samples collected from 40 water outlets resulted in two water sources above 5 ppb of lead, including a classroom that tested 29.7 ppb and a kitchen sink that tested 6.98 ppb.
Mill Brook School: Samples collected from 38 water outlets revealed one classroom with as higher than acceptable level at 5.99 ppb.
Rundlett Middle School: Samples were collected from 20 water outlets, with three testing above 5 ppb, including a kitchen sink that tested 7.19 ppb and two classrooms that tested 5.89 ppb and 96.8 ppb.
The Concord School District has removed access to these outlets until the problem can be corrected, and they will be offline until remediation is completed.