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HomeNewsLead found in drinking water at Houston elementary school

Lead found in drinking water at Houston elementary school

Elevated levels of lead has been found in an elementary school in Houston.

School District 54 Secretary Treasurer Dave Margerm confirms regular testing uncovered lead in the drinking water at Twain Sullivan Elementary.

“We’ve let parents and employees know, and we will be meeting with engineers to look at long term solutions to make sure the lead levels stay within Canadian standards.”

Margerm says they have resorted to flushing the pipes each morning, which seems to have fixed the problem in the short term. He says they are also carrying out more testing to confirm the positive result.

“We are very confident this is the only school affected. There’s two facilities within the District right now, Twain is the only school at the moment.”

In an exclusive interview with the MY BULKLEY LAKES NOW, Premier Christy Clark said more public buildings are testing positive lately because of just that, increased testing. “Public awareness is growing, when we see that it’s at levels that are hazardous we have to act very quickly.”

She added that sustained infrastructure investment will help tackle the issue province wide. “Our infrastructure is aging, pipes are aging, sewers are aging, Hydro infrastructure is aging. A lotta that investment wasn’t made over the last 30 years, since WAC Bennett. We have to start.”

Margerm says parts of the school were built before 1989, prior to which lead was used in some pipe soldering.

“Which is consistent, there’s some sources within Twain that are within Canadian standards and there is some sources that are turning out to be higher than Canadian standards at the moment.”

If major renovations are required for the school, Margerm anticipates the District will have to cover the cost of them out of it’s capital budget.

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