Water Testing Information
Dear parents and guardians,
The Upper Grand District School Board has been testing for lead in school drinking water since 2007. New provincial testing requirements came into effect July 2017, which increased the amount of sampling that is required. The Ontario drinking water quality standard for lead is 10 micrograms per litre. This standard is based on a national guideline set by Health Canada.
Only fixtures designated as a potential source of drinking water or food preparation need to be sampled. Over the course of this summer, 588 of the UGDSB’s designated water fixtures (in 76 schools) were sampled and tested and only 4 exceeded the Provincial Standards on the flushed sample. All of the designated fixtures at our school passed on the flushed sample.
If a flushed sample comes back with a higher than acceptable level of lead, the fixture that the water sample was taken from is immediately bagged so that no one is able to use it, and it remains off limits until the fixture is replaced and re-tested. All remaining fixtures are flushed daily and this activity is recorded. Only after additional sampling and testing has confirmed the corrective action is successful in reducing levels to below the Provincial Standards is the fixture made available.
Board staff are extremely diligent and follow the required procedures to the letter. Much of the work testing and replacing fixtures happened this summer prior to the start of the school year.
Again, we are pleased to inform you that all designated fixtures for drinking water, making of food and drink that were tested are satisfactory at our school. More information, and all of the results of water testing for lead in our schools, is posted online on the board website at www.ugdsb.ca/programs/environment/water-testing-for-lead/.
Please contact the school if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Allison Stoffman, Principal
Categories: News