After school officials announced they would test school water for lead in 2016, they decided to install filters instead. But the school district has yet to sign a contract with a filter company.
Installation must begin within six weeks of signing a contract, so it probably will stretch into the summer.
School district leaders said in July 2016 they would test water. Last year, they decided to install filters instead. But the contract has been delayed.
The decision to seek filters that screen microbes has raised the cost and delayed installation.
If the filters are installed properly, the tests should not detect any lead. School leaders decided not to test the water before installing filters.
School officials planned to test water, but they changed course after the water board raised questions.
Last fall, school officials announced plans to test water for lead at 10 schools. The city water board argued they should allow more lead in the water before taking action, and a testing consultant wondered whether the water board would challenge his results. The test plans were dropped in favor of filters, which haven’t been installed yet.
About a dozen schools that aren’t in district facilities aren’t included, but they can buy into the contract.
School districts sought the filters after dropping a plan to test school water.
A year ago, the two school districts that oversee schools in the city announced they were “proactively” coming up with a plan to test water supplies for lead. But they didn’t act. Now the plan is to install water filters. Meanwhile, kids are back in school.
