Though aware that elevated levels of lead had been detected in a preschool classroom at Oak Creek School in 2013, Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District chose not to shut off the affected water lines until February of this year.
As reported in the March 2 edition of Cottonwood Journal Extra, on Feb. 11 COCSD Superintendent Barbara U’Ren received notification from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, requiring the district to issue a public notice to families about the elevated levels of lead reported in 2013.
“The lines were shut off in February, immediately upon notification,” U’Ren stated March 8. “Remember, it was only identified from the one test is 2013. It had not been identified before 2013 and was not identified in 2014 or upon our last set of tests that was just completed.”
The notification from ADEQ required COCSD to conduct just such testing, which U’Ren assured has been done on a regular basis since 2013.
In neither 2013 nor the following years — including this year — was the district ordered to shut off the potentially affected water lines. Regardless, following the February notification, the district decided to make a move.
“It was not ordered by ADEQ,” U’Ren stated. “We were not positive where the lead came from since it was not in any other sites at the campus. This is the oldest building. Therefore, we thought it may be due to two factors: We do not know how the plumbing was constructed in this building. Not knowing if the pipes may have been soldered with lead could possibly have affected the water.
“Secondly, it is our assumption that the water sat in the pipes of this site and were not used for a period of time and that may have affected the water. We still don’t know for sure, but because of these assumptions, we determined it was best to remove the pipes and replace them.”
There are still questions about which organization — COCSD, ADEQ or the water-testing company used by COCSD — is responsible for the events leading to the point where U’Ren said “communication fell through the cracks” concerning whose responsibility it was to contact the public concerning the elevated levels discovered in 2013.
“It’s convoluted and I have learned more than I thought I would about water,” U’Ren stated. “Ultimately it becomes our responsibility — however, there were procedures errors with the company we use as our water tester. In looking back over everything, we find that in 2013 we received a report with the levels of lead at all the sites tested. The document does indicate on it what the acceptable level for lead is.
“The practice has always been that the company that takes the water samples — the operator — would notify us immediately if there was a problem. It is the operator’s responsibility to take the water samples, send the water samples to another company, the water analysis lab, for analysis. The water-analysis lab provides the results back to the water sampler, the operator.”
According to U’Ren, the operator is responsible to notify ADEQ and COCSD if there was a problem, yet the operator did not notify either party.
“We still do not have a clear understanding of exactly how communication is supposed to be handled by the water-testing company, laboratory and ADEQ in the event of an elevated testing sample,” U’Ren added after receiving inquiries for further clarification.
“Nor do we have a clear understanding of how communication between these parties was handled in this particular situation. The laboratory did copy the school district on its report back in 2013, but we have not found any record of the water-testing company or ADEQ highlighting the elevated lead result to the district prior to last month.”
Inquiries with ADEQ were not been returned by press time.
