Pullman school officials shut down 12 drinking fountains and classroom faucets earlier this fall after state testing found elevated levels of lead in water samples at Sunnyside Elementary, Lincoln Middle School and Pullman High School.
The state Department of Health reportedly tested 207 fixtures — such as classroom sinks, bubblers and water bottle fillers — at five Pullman schools between Oct. 10-16. Almost all returned results below the EPA safety threshold for lead of 20 parts per billion. Results for most Whitman County schools can be found here.
Two fixtures at Sunnyside Elementary came back with levels at 60 and 63 ppb (a classroom tap and a bubbler, respectively). A bubbler in the PHS weight lifting room also measured levels at 20 ppb.
A Pullman School District post stated administrators received the water test results on Oct. 29 and had the 12 fixtures with readings at or above 10 ppb taken out of service immediately. That post also includes copies of all Pullman test results, a list of impacted classrooms and advisory letters from health officials.
“Bottled water will be provided to staff and students in the impacted areas,” the post stated. “We will be working quickly to fully replace and retest each fixture that had an elevated level prior to turning the water back on in that location.”
Joe Thornton, director of operations at Pullman School District, wrote in an email Sunday all fixtures with readings of 10 ppb or above have been replaced, but remain out of service until results come back from a follow-up test set for this Wednesday.
Officials noted the elevated lead levels seem isolated within the individual fixtures. If the actual pipes had lead issues, the contamination would be more widespread throughout the system.
Letters from health officials noted that while just a handful of fixtures had lead levels above the EPA threshold many others measured at “actionable” levels between 2-19 ppb that may need attention. They recommend cleaning aerators or flushing fixtures before use.
Those “actionable” fixtures totaled 20 at Sunnyside, 17 at Jefferson, seven at Franklin, 15 at Lincoln Middle School and two at Pullman High.
Officials at Colfax, Garfield and Steptoe school districts also shut down several water fixtures last spring after a previous round of state water testing found elevated lead in those elementary schools.
The Department of Health plans to continue testing schools statewide through June 2019, or until funding runs out. Read more about the health effects of lead here.