NDP calls for long-term plan for lead in school drinking water
Canada moves towards stronger water quality guidelines for lead

Thestar.com
Ainslie Cruickshank
Nov. 28, 2017

As the provincial government defended its record for addressing lead contaminated drinking water at schools and daycares in Ontario, a joint committee of federal and provincial governments has recommended a new, more stringent guideline for the metal.

The committee tasked with establishing national water quality guidelines agreed this month to a new guideline for lead of 5 parts per billion -- half the existing standard in Ontario. The move is consistent with the advice of experts the Star has spoken to as part of its on-going investigation into lead in drinking water.

The recommended guideline, which hasn’t been updated since it was set at 10 parts per billion in 1992, must still be approved by a second committee before it is officially adopted.

In the meantime, the Ontario government touted its standards as the “strongest in Canada” in the legislature Tuesday, in response to demands from the NDP that the province do more to address the issue.

“We have strict rules in place requiring immediate action should an issue arise, so parents can rest assured that their children are safe,” said Indira Naidoo-Harris, the minister responsible for Early Years and Child Care.

“I want parents to know that over 98 per cent of those facilities meet or are better than Health Canada standards,” she said, adding that Ontario is the only province to require annual water testing for lead in schools and daycares.

Though Ontario is leading the way in Canada, the NDP and experts say the government’s current approach isn’t strong enough.

More than 640 schools and daycares in Ontario failed to meet the provincial standard for lead in drinking water in 2015 and 2016.

At a threshold of 5 ppb, more than 800 schools would have failed lead tests in the 2016/2017 fiscal year alone.

While action was taken to address exceedances immediately, experts say the solution that’s commonly employed -- flushing the water from taps more frequently -- isn’t effective.

A new round of sampling in 2017 shows the problem is on-going. More than 180 schools across five school boards failed to meet the 10 ppb standard in at least one tested tap this year.

NDP Education critic Peggy Sattler called the government’s approach of testing and flushing a “Band-Aid.”

“It won’t actually fix the problem and that’s what parents need from this government,” she said. “The pipes need to be replaced and that is the only real solution to the problem.”

Bruce Lanphear, an expert from Simon Fraser University in the effects of toxins, including lead, on children, agreed that flushing is not a long-term solution.

“It really is not adequate for protecting children,” he said.

Lanphear, alongside health bodies like the World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics agree there is no safe level of lead exposure, especially for young children who are more susceptible to its affects.

While the goal of flushing is to wash out any standing water where lead may have accumulated, Lanphear said those lead levels can often build back up quite quickly, sometimes in as little as 30 minutes.

Flushing programs may also prove difficult to maintain, said Marc Edwards, a professor of environmental and water resources engineering at Virginia Tech.

“In the U.S. ... I’ve never seen a flushing program that was really sustained seriously for more than a few months,” he said.

“If you’re very serious about this, if you don’t just want to placate people, within six months after you identify problems you should try to implement a more permanent solution,” he said.

A transparent strategy that prioritizes action based on the levels of lead detected is important, Lanphear said, suggesting fountains with lead levels above 10 ppb should be tackled first.

The process can be costly, so Edwards said some schools in the U.S. have chosen to designate a few taps that they are sure have no lead in the plumbing or have a filter that removes any lead from water before it is consumed, as lead-free and safe for drinking.