INNISFAIL - The Chinook’s Edge School Division board will receive a report today on lead during its regularly scheduled meeting, say officials.
The report is being made in response to a recent national study and report that found high levels of lead in drinking water in many schools, towns and cities across Canada.
Shawn Russell is the associate superintendent of corporate services at Chinook’s Edge.
“The board of trustees are going to discuss it on November 13,” said Russell. “Whenever there is something that makes that kind of headline, our trustees would have questions and would want to discuss it.
“I will share with them the age of our buildings and they will determine whether there is further action needed.
“We will have to look at the age of our buildings and determine if we want to proceed with some precautionary testing to ensure that we are meeting the regulated standard of five parts per million. That’s the national standard.”
Asked if he knows of schools in Chinook’s Edge that could have problems with lead, he said, “Not at this point. Our facilities crew and our safety manager, we do regular checks on our buildings to make sure that they meet standards. We will be taking some extra precautions and probably be conducting some further examinations as are appropriate. And that would come at the direction of the board.”
Asked if the division has been testing for lead in water in Chinook’s Edge schools, he said, “We do some water testing around the division. And some of our facilities have their own wells too, so we do monthly water tests on those schools.
“With a lot of our newer buildings there wouldn’t be any concerns with lead because of the building code wouldn’t have allowed lead pipes.”
The national building codes changed in the 1970s to ban lead in water plumbing systems in public buildings.
“We have some older buildings prior to that, but we’ve also had renovations to those buildings and plumbing was part of those renovations,” he said.
The division has about 15 buildings built prior to the mid-1970s, he said.
“That’s not saying there is an (lead) issue with those buildings,” he said. “When I look at that list, all of them have had renovations.”
Jason Nixon, area MLA and minister of Environment and Parks, says the government plans to take action.
“Obviously we take the issue of lead in the water supply very seriously,” Nixon told said. “We will be working closely with homeowners and municipalities and school boards to ultimately remove those lead service lines and get the problem fixed.”
His department is working with the departments of Health and Education “to make sure we get this right,” he said.
On the Alberta Environment and Parks side there are approximately 700 drinking water systems that the department regulates, he said.
“We will be requiring all of them to develop and implement lead programs,” he said. “The drive is to make continuous improvement over the next five years. We are implementing that January 1, 2020.
“We are adopting the federal guidelines across the province.
Asked if he has been made aware of any specific cases of lead in the water in the region, he said no.
The official Opposition is calling on the UCP government to conduct a review.
“The results (of the survey) were shocking,” said Marlin Schmidt, NDP critic for Environment and Parks. “To know that Albertans have been exposed to such high levels of lead is incredibly troubling.
“The UCP need to commit to launching a provincial review into this issue immediately. They need to take immediate action by banning plumbing fixtures containing lead. If not, they need to explain to Albertans what they’re afraid of.”
