Portland, Oregon, Has A Lead Problem. Kids Are Paying The Price.

Students in Portland Public Schools, the largest school district in Oregon, haven't taken a drink from a water fountain in almost two weeks. That’s because all the district's fountains have been shut off since May 27, after PPS announced that high levels of lead had been detected in the drinking water at two of its school buildings -- Creston, a K-8 school, and Rose City Park, which houses a magnet program for gifted students. Bottled water is now being used throughout the school district for all drinking and food preparation purposes. That will be the case until Thursday, which marks the end of the school year. In a May 27 email, PPS Superintendent Carole Smith apologized to families and staff, acknowledging that the district had failed to notify them as soon as tests detected elevated levels of lead in the water in March. Smith also acknowledged that the district had not shut off the water in the faucets or fountains where high lead levels were detected. Since then, frustrated parents have been demanding to know who knew what, when they knew it and why no one took action sooner. The questions have grown more pointed as new reports suggest the district may have already been aware of the issue months or even years ago, and that the problem was or is far more widespread than two schools. The Willamette Week, a Portland alt-weekly, reported on May 31 that when PPS last tested the water at 90 of the district’s schools between 2010 and 2012, officials detected lead ex...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news