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19 Schools Found with Elevated Levels of Lead

October 14, 2004
Results of continued testing for elevated levels of lead in the water in school facilities have been released for 19 additional schools. Thus far, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has received results for 87 of 192 schools, and all have been found to have some elevated levels of lead.

The new update provides additional information for parents and the public. Data about the findings for hallway water coolers are reported separately from data for other water sources, where possible. The separate reporting addresses requests for more detailed information about the results for tests conducted on the most readily used sources of drinking water for students.

Analysis continues by the Montgomery County Health Department and school system staff of test results for the remaining schools as they have been made available from the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) laboratory facilities. Data on individual schools are being analyzed and batched for public release as quickly as possible.

The most recent information is posted on the school system's lead safeguards web site and in the attached file. Letters have been distributed this week to parents in the 19 schools with newly released testing results.

On September 1, the Board of Education was provided with an update on the technical review process and facility planning efforts under way to address the problem of elevated levels of lead in school drinking water. Those efforts are continuing, and schools are maintaining the flushing protocol established by the health department (except in facilities that have been specifically released from the procedures).

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