The potential health hazards that maintenance and engineering managers must address in K-12 schools go far beyond fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Managers also must deal with legionella — the cause of Legionnaire’s disease — and asbestos, which are present in facility systems and materials. Yet another threat that has existed for decades — lead in plumbing systems and components — continues to create challenges for managers and hazards for staff and students.
For example, Buffalo Public Schools’ challenge to address lead poisoning of children includes cleaning up contaminated water sources in its facilities.
Lead in school water is not a result of lead pipes leading from streets or in the buildings, but of plumbing fixtures, school officials said. Testing conducted in 2022 and 2023 revealed that 237 fixtures, including water fountains, with lead levels above current state limits, according to the Investigative Post. Lead-contaminated water fountains and cafeteria fixtures — 34 fountains and 19 kitchen and cafeteria faucets and kettles — have been replaced districtwide over the past few years, school officials said.
In Oakland, California, Oakland Unified School District officials face financial issues in their efforts to grapple with the lead crisis — specifically, how to fix and pay for a lead crisis that could cost tens of millions of dollars, according to The Oaklandside.
They must pay for unforeseen costs of remediating the lead crisis, providing clean water for students and staff and continuing routine water testing. They must decide whether funding comes from the district’s general or deferred maintenance funds, facilities bonds, state and federal grants, philanthropy or a combination of these sources.
The district has spent nearly $650,000 providing filtered water stations and reusable water bottles for students and staff while water fixtures are being repaired. Maintaining those water stations and ensuring that schools have multiple stations on each campus could cost another $1.5 million.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
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