Sending your child off to school can be scary. You want your child to feel safe and be safe. This month Portland Public Schools (PPS) is rolling out a pilot program for safe, lead-free drinking water in Portland’s public schools.
Drinking Water Stations (DWS) fitted with a highly effective lead filter as part of a PPS pilot program to improve water quality in our district. This program is a less expensive alternative to replacing pipes in the walls that would also involve weeks of messy construction. The program is something no other school district in Oregon is doing! Here is a link to the PPS Water Quality Pilot Project web page about this project.
Test results show very low lead levels: Tests are back from the lab and they show many of the new Drinking Water Stations installed this summer at SE Portland’s Duniway Elementary tested below 1ppb. For some, the level was so low that it was non-detectable (ND). This is great news and what PPS was hoping to find. For perspective, the PPS, state and federal action levels for lead in drinking fixtures is 15 ppb.PPS will test the water on a weekly basis for at least the first month to ensure the DWS filters continue to perform as expected. If the program proves successful, PPS will expand it to more schools. The link to the test results is here: PSI 244 DUNIWAY PILOT RESULTS 2019.08.19[1].pdf and you can visit https://www.pps.net/Page/14258 to see the results from local school as well.