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Eugene School District Finds Lead In Water

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The Eugene 4J School District found slightly elevated lead levels in water from a sink at Roosevelt Middle School Monday.  As of Tuesday, it’s providing bottled water out of what it calls an abundance of caution.

Slightly elevated lead levels were previously detected at Sheldon High, Kennedy Middle and the district office this spring. Eugene 4J spokeswoman Kerry Delf:
Delf: “What we’ve found is isolated issues with a slightly elevated lead level due to the fixtures in drinking fountains or sinks.”
Delf says the district did repairs at the first three sites in the spring and retested at safe levels. But they want to take extra precautions.
Delf: “We’re providing bottled water and filtered water for all drinking and food preparation until those answers are certain.  We’ll be doing comprehensive testing of all of the water sources across the school district over the course of the summer.”
Workers didn't tell district leaders about the lead until last week. Delf says the employees considered the testing and repairs to be routine, and that's why they didn't report it sooner.
Both the Eugene Bethel School District and Springfield School District say they will be doing comprehensive testing of their water this summer for lead levels.
Springfield did a similar round of testing in 2002 and all results came back under the level of concern. So they’re not expecting to find elevated lead levels.
 

Rachael McDonald is KLCC’s host for All Things Considered on weekday afternoons. She also is the editor of the KLCC Extra, the daily digital newspaper. Rachael has a BA in English from the University of Oregon. She started out in public radio as a newsroom volunteer at KLCC in 2000.