MEDIA ADVISORY
September 13, 2017
Contact: Samer Naji, 619-548-3388
San Diego Unified School District Partners With Statewide Environmental Advocacy Organization To Address Lead in Drinking Water
WHAT: CALPIRG will join San Diego Unified School District at a press conference to announce the district's new lead action level and water remediation plan. A progress report on remediation efforts will be provided, including announcing the completion of remediation efforts at Birney Elementary School.
WHEN: Thursday, September 14, 4:00 p.m.
WHERE: Birney Elementary School, 4345 Campus Avenue, San Diego, CA 92103 (meet in front of the school).
VISUALS: District officials, CALPIRG Public Health Advocate, Birney ES stakeholders at a press conference with Birney Elementary School as the backdrop.
GUEST SPEAKERS/INTERVIEWS: San Diego Unified School District Board of Education President Richard Barrera, Vice President Kevin Beiser, Superintendent Cindy Marten, CALPIRG Public Health Advocate Jason Pfeifle, Birney ES parents.
BACKGROUND: With feedback from CALPIRG, district staff developed and presented a new water remediation plan to the Board of Education. San Diego Unified's Board of Education adopted the new water remediation plan at the July 25, 2017 meeting.
The new plan sets a strict lead in drinking water action level of 5 parts per billion. This new action level is one third of the state and federal government action level of 15 parts per billion and matches the Food and Drug Administration's standard for bottled drinking water. This stringent lead action level is the lowest among California school districts and establishes San Diego Unified as a national leader in water quality standards.
By setting the lowest lead action level of any school district in California, the drinking water plan requires the remediation of lead identified by drinking water sampling conducted by the City of San Diego in April-June 2017, even when those levels meet state and federal water quality standards. To ensure all water outlets that may be used for drinking or food preparation meet the district's strict new standard, the district will sample all of the remaining water outlets used for human consumption across the entire district. This sampling project will include early childhood education facilities and central offices, which were excluded from the State Water Resources Control Board school sampling program. The district wide sampling project is expected to take 3 years to complete and will initially focus on sites previously identified by the city as having lead levels that met state and federal standards but exceed the district's new action level. By 2020, district staff will produce a menu of options to be presented to the school board that would allow for the district to reduce the action level to 1 ppb.
# # #
Posts
