A week after officials announced they had found elevated lead levels in Newark Public Schools drinking water,the local teachers union released photographs they said show water filters were not regularly changed.
Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon said he found 10 expired filters at district schools, some dating as far back as 2012, or while the city's protocol calls for replacements every six months."The district is not putting the safety and health of its students and staff as its first priority," he said.
Some of the lead filters photographed had expiration dates going back to 2012.
(Newark Teachers Union)
The Newark Public School system began taking precautions to guard against lead poisoning from its drinking water in 2004. In addition to regularly changing water filters, the measures call for custodians to flush drinking fountains for two minutes at the start of each school day. final week, and the school system said taps in half of the city's schools showed elevated lead levels due to veteran pipes in their buildings — and that bottled water would be if until a long-term solution was reached.
A spokeswoman for the district,Dreena Whitfield, said in an email that she hadn't verified the photos. She said the district is reviewing whether the protocols were followed. Nor is it clear when lead started showing up in schools drinking water, and since the school system has not released test results from prior years.
Source: wnyc.org