A drinking fountain and a sink at DeKalb County's Ronald E. McNair High School are the latest water sources where investigators found lead above the Environmental Protection agency's action levels.
DeKalb County School District officials announced in September that water sources at all the district's buildings would be tested for lead. Water sources would be replaced where lead was found.
In the last round of testing, six other schools were tested. Lead above the EPA’s mandated action level of 15 parts per billion was not found at Edward L. Bouie Elementary School, Clarkston High School, DeKalb Elementary School of the Arts, Stone Mountain High School, Columbia High School and Southwest DeKalb High School.
Superintendent Steve Green said when announcing the testing that issues with water in Flint, Mich., prompted an emergency declaration. He approved approximately $450,000 for Atlanta Environmental Management to test the district’s drinking sources without board approval. Atlanta Public Schools, based off the same Flint water crisis, approved lead testing at its buildings months before DeKalb.
So far, investigators found lead above the EPA's action level in 91 of 2,439 water sources at 91 schools, about 3.7 percent. Testing began at the district's oldest elementary schools, as lead would most likely be found in structures completed before 1986, and elementary school children are at the greatest risk for lead poisoning.
Once a source is discovered to have lead above the action levels, it is shut off and remediation is said to begin, which often includes replacing the outlet.
No parents have come forward saying their child has suffered from lead poisoning at this point.
