New York Public Schools Post Lead Test Results Online

In response to reports of elevated lead levels in drinking water from Flint, Mich., to Newark, the New York City public school system is taking the extraordinary step of posting results from nearly 90,000 samples taken over the last 14 years.

The portal, which went live Wednesday afternoon, reflects information from all tests taken taken since 2002, when the Department of Education instituted a regular protocol that emphasized the testing, remediation and re-testing of schools that showed elevated lead levels.

The test results, according to a City Hall press release, showed that 1.13 percent of all samples taken since 2002 showed elevated lead levels upon the "first draws" (taken after the water in the faucet was left to rest for hours or even days). Just 0.09 percent of the samples showed that the elevated levels remained on the second draw, taken after the water was left to run a short while.   

"The safety of drinking water is something our parents and staff can count on," said Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña in a statement. "Our new web portal is an additional step towards this assurance."

The Natural Resources Defense Coucil said that the transparency is a good first step. "Our initial reaction is positive," said senior attorney Eric Goldstein. "This information should be reassuring to parents in the vast majority of schools." He said the NRDC looks forward to reviewing the city's data.

Those who type in a school name will be told whether there have been any elevated lead levels in the past, and if so, details from the last set of tests taken. The portal shows that some schools have not been tested since 2004, and perhaps earlier. The city has only tested schools built before 1986, when the use of lead pipes in plumbing was outlawed. WNYC asked the city for its lead testing results last week, and noted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that school districts make such data available online.

In addition to releasing the data, City Hall spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said the Department of Education is planning to test every school — including those built in the past three decades — every five years in the future. Previously, New York City, which has more than 1,800 schools, did not regularly test all of its buildings. This is in contrast to Newark, where every school building is tested for lead in drinking water every year.  

According to current protocol, if either the first sample or both the first and second samples drawn show elevated levels of lead, the education department remediates the problem, sometimes by replacing old pipes or fixtures. 

The new protocols exceed guidelines recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Spitalnick said. 

Parents are being notified by letters sent home with children. 

Lead generally gets into drinking water when the metal from pipes and fixtures corrode because of their age or condition, not from the municipal water source. If children are exposed to high levels of lead for an extended period of time, they can develop learning disabilities, brain damage and other illnesses.

In 2015, the Department of Education said it investigated 45 cases of elevated lead levels in public school children. None were linked to contaminated water.

To visit the portal, go here.

UPDATED: This story was updated at 8 a.m., March 24 with more detail on which schools have been tested and a correct link to a previous WNYC article. It had also been updated 6 p.m., March 23 with new quotes, information and the address of the web portal.