Bloomfield Hills School District’s Response to Lead Testing Inquiry
(Crystal A. Proxmire, April 27, 2016)
Bloomfield Hills, MI – As they see the images of children in Flint lined up to get bottled water or crying over blood tests, people around the country have been wondering about the safety of the water they and their families use on a day to day basis to cook, clean, bathe and drink.  Parents, teachers and advocates have also been calling for testing of the water in schools.
When lead and copper are issues, it is often caused by old pipes or old fixtures.  Even when old fixtures are there, corrosion control in the water helps protect users.  But testing is the best way to know if the protections are working or not.
After learning that Oakland Schools had put out an RFP for water testing, the oc115 contacted school districts from throughout Oakland County to find out where they stand on testing.
Spokesperson for Bloomfield Hills Schools Shira Good said that her district tests annual.  “We tested just a few months ago and everything came back in normal levels.  I don’t have copies of the report to send – our testing company has not sent those, but we were notified that our levels are all in the normal range,” Good said.
“Many of our drinking fountains are slowly converting to the water bottle filling stations.  Since a lot of the lead issues stem from the individual units, we’re excited that our upgraded stations aren’t ones we need to be concerned with.  They are landfill friendly and much safer.  With budget issues, we’re tackling the drinking fountains one at a time, slowly upgrading them, but testing them in the meantime to ensure the existing fountains are safe.”
To read what other school districts had to say, check out Local Schools Vary on Testing for Lead in Water.