School Water Cleanup

LAUSD makes progress towards removing lead from drinking water

By JOEL GROVER and MATT GOLDBERG

Updated 1:22 PM PST, Mon, Jan 26, 2009

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Before the sun is up, 80 school district employees are fanning out across the city, taking water samples from school drinking fountains, the sinks in classrooms, and the faucets in cafeterias.

Every source of drinking water at every LAUSD school is being tested.

It's part of a huge, new effort to find out which faucets are dispensing lead-tainted water.

Progress on Contaminated Drinking Water in Schools

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Progress on Contaminated Drinking Water in Schools

"The testing is to determine exactly where the problems exist, so that we can then determine what action we have to take," says Neil Gamble, LAUSD Maintenance Chief.

The district had promised to start this testing last April, after NBC Los Angeles revealed the water at numerous schools had levels of lead above what the U.S. EPA says are safe.

The problem is that aging lead pipes and fountains are leaching lead into the water.

In October, Joel Grover asked Superintendent David Brewer if he was satisfied that six months later, the widespread testing had not begun.

Brewer responded, "No."

It was only after that interview with the superintendent that the district quickly assembled an army of employees, who are now collecting up to 2,000 water samples a day, four days a week.

The district is promising to finish sampling every fountain at all 800 LAUSD schools, within the next four months.

Then the district plans to use up to $100 million of school bond money, approved by voters last month, to replace fountains and pipes in schools where tests find there are high amounts lead.

When asked if the district has a timetable for making the water safe, Gamble said, "We do not have a final timetable. Again, the testing will be done by April 1st."

But some school board members say it's all taking too long and that's part of the reason why they've been calling for the superintendent to step down, saying he's been moving too slowly on issues like removing lead from water.

At a recent meeting, Board president Monica Garcia said, "Superintendent, I asked where is the plan on how we're going to fix all the pipes. Right now we don't have the plan before us."

District officials say they'll develop that plan, once they know exactly how many fountains and pipes need to be replaced.