Which area school has the most lead in its water fixtures? State testing sheds light

The state recently finished its first round of lead testing in Spokane Public Schools water fixtures, finding around 260 sinks and water fountains at 37 schools that tested above the legal threshold for lead in school water.

A law passed in 2021 requires the state Department of Health to test all water fixtures installed pre-2016, when the state mandated all water fixtures installed in schools to be lead-free. After testing, fixtures that contain more than 5 parts per billion of lead can’t be used for drinking until they test lower. Faucets can still be used for hand washing until the particles reach 15 parts per billion.

Five parts per billion is the legal threshold for lead in plastic water bottles, as set by the Food and Drug Administration.

In Spokane Public Schools, the school with the highest amount of lead in one of its fixtures is Frances Scott Elementary School in East Central. One of its sinks tested at a rate of 2,391 parts per billion when tested in July, though district spokesperson Ryan Lancaster said that was a lab error and the school is scheduled for retesting. At Frances Scott, 28 other fixtures tested above the threshold, ranging from 7 to 479 parts per billion, and are slated to be replaced or temporarily designated as only for washing hands.

Rogers High School had the second-highest concentration of lead in one of its fixtures: a sink that tested at 754 parts per billion in September. Rogers’ only other fixture above 5 parts per billion is another sink at 68. Both were shut off and replaced.

Libby Center was the most recently tested; results came in November that show 15 taps ranging from 6 to 49 parts per billion. They’re slated to be replaced.

Lancaster wrote in an email that all drinking fountains that were above the legal lead limit have since been temporarily shut off or replaced with water bottle filling stations, called bubblers, which are built to filter most lead. The Department of Health is to conduct follow-up testing at each of these sites, some of which started this summer.

“Results from that testing are now being processed and can take 6-8 weeks to finalize. Early results have been promising, though in many cases a third test may be required,” Lancaster wrote.

Central Valley schools were tested in 2023 and 2024 with around 25 sinks and water fountains with more than five parts per billion of lead at seven schools, ranging from 6 to 71, according to the Department of Health. These features have since been replaced, said district spokesperson Marla Nunberg.

Though the amounts of lead are scant in proportion to the amount of water, the scientific community is at a consensus that any amount of lead is harmful to developing minds, said Theresa Sanders, Department of Health supervisor for childhood environmental lead exposure prevention.

“What the research shows is that even low levels of exposure, children can have IQ impacts like reduced attention spans, hyperactivity, other kinds of learning and developmental and behavioral impacts,” Sanders said. “So from a public health standpoint, our goal is to limit lead exposure as much as possible in our kids. That’s what’s going to be best for their health, and also best for society’s health in the long run.”

Lead exposure isn’t just pervasive in schools around Spokane; statewide, around 79% of all tested schools had at least one fixture testing above the legal threshold. That said, 17% of total tested fixtures exceeded the threshold, Sanders said.

“To translate that: Most schools have one or two outlets that test high, but the majority of their outlets are not testing high,” Sanders said.

Water doesn’t have lead in it, Sanders said, but it picks up trace amounts of the neurotoxin if it’s moving through lead pipes.

“It’s a dynamic interaction between how corrosive your water is and how long it is in contact with plumbing components and how much lead plumbing components have in them,” Sanders said.

Water with higher acidity or low mineral content can cause lead to corrode in pipes, allowing it to escape in water from drinking fountains and faucets, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Replacing water fixtures can be the key to bringing down their lead levels, Sanders said. That’s the route that Central Valley and Spokane Public Schools took for many of its fixtures, replacing older water fountains with modern bubblers that filter out contaminants, though they can still have minute amounts of lead, Sanders said.

“They have lots of options, everything from putting in filters to replacing the outlets. If they think the plumbing is involved, they could do more full plumbing replacement,” Sanders said.

Sanders reiterated that there’s no healthy amount of lead to ingest or be exposed to. It’s difficult to explain the difference in exposure between 5 and 15 parts per billion and how that could affect one’s development, especially considering other factors like access to food or secure housing, for example.

“All of the levels, like 5 parts per billion, 15 parts per billion, are not health levels. They’re not the level at which we say there’s no health impact, they’re public health policy treatment levels,” Sanders said. “Because there isn’t an acceptable level of lead exposure.”