WEST ORANGE, NJ — After the Newark school system made headlines last month when analyses showed that its drinking water contained lead levels significantly higher than allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency, the West Orange School District is planning to have the water tested for lead in all of its own buildings during the coming weeks.
According to Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Rutzky, Agra Environmental and Laboratory Services of Dover will test water samples taken from all 13 of the district’s buildings — 11 schools plus the central office and the bus depot — in order to determine whether the buildings’ water has lead levels that exceed the EPA’s action level of 15 parts per billion. Rutzky said the collection will include kitchen sinks in addition to fountains and will be done during weekends within the next few weeks, with the results expected a few weeks after that.
Since the testing will be done on weekend days, Board of Education President Laura Lab said it will cost the district $45 per fountain or sink, with a recommended 10 collection areas per building. That amounts to a total of $5,850 for 13 buildings, which is more expensive than the $25 per fountain or sink Lab said it would have cost if the collection was done during the week. But she said it the price is far cheaper than that quoted by another company before Assemblyman John McKeon’s office put the district in touch with Agra.
Once the district has discussed the test results with Agra officials, Rutzky said it will then decide what adjustments will have to be made in order to make any noncompliant fountain or sink safe. But, judging from last year’s water tests at Edison Middle School and Roosevelt Middle School — which found only one fountain to be noncompliant with EPA standards, with the fountain being replaced by a filtered one that later tests showed to be safe — the superintendent said he is not worried about what the results will show this year.
“We are very comfortable that the drinking water is very safe,” Rutzky told the West Orange Chronicle in an April 18 phone interview, adding that the district will make the results public. “We did very well last year, besides the one water fountain, so I am hopeful that the same kind of thing will be found when we do all the other buildings.”
Next year, unless this round of testing shows a school of particular concern, Rutzky said the district will return to its staggered testing system in which three schools are tested per year. He said it was not continued this year because the district felt it needed to make sure West Orange did not have a situation like in Newark, where lead levels spanned from 16 to 558 ppb.
Considering that some West Orange schools are more than 100 years old and contain their original piping, Rutzky said the district wanted to be cautious. The use of lead in pipes and other building materials was only banned by federal law in 1986, though in New Jersey most lead pipes are found in structures at least 50 years old, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.
“We want to make sure our water is safe for everybody, and we’re taking the steps to be proactive to do that,” Rutzky said. “This is not required of us to do it, but we just felt it was important.”
West Orange Health Officer Theresa De Nova also wanted to make sure residents were safe, which is why she posted information regarding lead poisoning on the town website, in addition to inviting representatives from water supplier New Jersey American Water to give a presentation during a recent Township Council meeting. But De Nova has actually seen nothing to worry about, telling the Chronicle that she has never been made aware of any case of lead being found in West Orange water. In fact, even after Newark’s situation captured the public’s attention, she said she has only received a “minimal” number of calls concerning lead in water.
Still, De Nova acknowledged that since many West Orange homes are quite old — and thus likely have pipes or solders containing lead, which can dissolve into water — there is a chance that some residents might have lead in their water. Yet, since lead is odorless, tasteless and not indicated by discoloration, she said testing the water using a certified lab is the only way to know whether water is contaminated. The health officer recommended using any of the eight reputable labs listed on the town website, pointing out that West Orange contracts with Garden State Laboratories of Hillside.
As for the water coming into homes, NJAW External Relations Director Richard Barnes said his company’s water meets the federal standard for lead in addition to all other state and federal water mandates. Indeed, according to the 2015 annual water quality report for its Short Hills system — of which West Orange is part — the amount of lead detected to the 90th percentile in the entire service area was only 3 ppb, with only two samples above the 15 ppb action level. According to the report, the typical causes of lead in a house’s water are the corrosion of plumbing systems and the erosion of natural deposit. Considering that NJAW only has control over its water up until the curb of a property, those causes are not the company’s responsibility.
In order to make sure no lead is found in its water throughout its distribution system in West Orange, Barnes said NJAW routinely tests samples at several sites around town. He said these sites are chosen by the company’s water-quality team in conjunction with the EPA and the Department of Environmental Protection as areas that might have a concentration of lead piping. So far, he said the team has not found any instances of lead in the water at any of the township’s sites tested.
And though NJAW does not test for lead specifically when the water starts out at its Canoe Brook plant in Millburn, Barnes said the plant does not have any lead pipes, so there would be no way for lead to get into the water. Plus, he said the company adds orthophosphate, a corrosion inhibitor, to its treatment process to act as a barrier between the water and any pipe corrosion, so the water is especially protected.
“We have no lead in our water or our pipes,” Barnes told the Chronicle in an April 18 phone interview.
But once the water leaves NJAW’s jurisdiction and enters the homeowner’s domain, there is a real possibility lead could enter the water. Aside from having a lab test the water if they think it is contaminated, Barnes advised property owners to flush their taps with cold water for 30 seconds to two minutes if their faucets have gone unused for more than six hours because the longer water lies dormant, the more lead it might contain. Other tips on minimizing exposure to lead are listed on NJAW’s fact sheet, and include using only cold water to cook or drink — hot water has the potential to contain more lead — and looking for the “Lead Free” label when replacing fixtures.
According to the NJDOH, it is estimated that at least 20 percent of human exposure to lead may come from lead in water, with formula-fed infants getting 40 to 60 percent of their exposure from it. But the department also said that drinking lead found in water alone has not been attributed with elevated blood lead levels; it is the combination of drinking it along with other exposures — such as the consumption of lead paint chips — that could cause harm to one’s health. And then, children and fetuses are most susceptible to the negative effects of lead poisoning, which the department said include kidney damage, anemia and the impediment of brain development.
The NJDOH also noted that washing clothes or dishes and bathing are safe uses of water containing lead.
To see the fact sheets and lab list posted by De Nova, visit http://www.westorange.org/index.aspx?nid=84. To view the NJAW’s fact sheet and water quality reports, visit http://www.amwater.com/njaw/.
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