PARSIPPANY — Lead levels above the established safety threshold of 15 parts per billion were discovered at locations in Central Middle School and both Parsippany and Parsippany Hills high schools, but were not connected to fountains or other sources of water to be consumed, according to a detailed report released Monday by district officials.
Tests on water sources at Brooklawn Middle School were all below the safety threshold. The district is awaiting reports on the other schools in the district. Those reports are expected within two to three weeks.
“As you may know, as a result of the issue of lead in the schools drinking water in Newark, New Jersey, the Parsippany-Troy Hills Township School District made the decision to have the water tested in all of our 14 schools. As part of the testing procedures, all drinking fountains, food preparation, and Home Economics classrooms were tested,” in a prepared statement released by the Office of the Superintendent.
The district schools are connected to the municipal water supply.
While the testing of all schools is not complete at this time, today we received results for five of our schools. The results are as follows:
Eastlake Elementary School:
The Eastlake Elementary School showed results above the threshold of 15.0 ppb in the following areas: Hall to gym wc: 22 ppb.
Classroom #5 wc: 16 ppb
Classroom #14 wc: 270 ppb
Classroom # 8 wc: 24 ppb
Classroom #16 wc: 28 ppb Action Plan – As a result, these drinking fountains will be turned off today and we will provide bottled water to the students in these classrooms. The Board of Education will be consulting with the testing company and they met with the Parsippany Department of Health to begin developing a long-term, permanent solution to insure our students have proper drinking water. All other samples in the school were below the threshold.
Parsippany High School
Parsippany High School showed results above the threshold of 15.0 ppb in the following area: Boiler room VF by tank: 200 ppb Action Plan – This valve is not tied to our drinking water. Rather, this is a utility valve and only the custodian and maintenance personnel have access to the value and reason to use it. All other samples were below the threshold.
Central Middle School
Central Middle School showed results above the threshold of 15.0 ppb in the following area: Water pump room UF: 66 ppb Action Plan – This utility faucet is not tied to the drinking water. Rather, this is a utility faucet and only our custodian and maintenance personnel have access to the faucet and reason to use it.
All other samples in the school were below the threshold.
Parsippany Hills High School
Parsippany Hills High School showed results above the threshold of 15.0 ppb in the following area: Boiler room Utility Valve by tank – 100 ppb. Action Plan – This utility valve is not tied to our drinking water. Rather, this is a utility valve and only our custodian and maintenance personnel have access to the valve and reason to use it. All other samples in the school were below the threshold.
Brooklawn Middle School
All samples in the school were below the threshold.
“Please understand that the information we have received is preliminary and not the complete report. The steps taken at this point are precautionary. As we receive additional notifications for the remaining schools and complete testing results for all our schools we will post the information on the District website by clicking here. The Township website has the most recent State mandated water quality testing program,” the press release concluded.
Click here to review complete report.
