VIDEO [CC] Deaf News: Lead found in water at Michigan School for the Deaf.

FLINT, MI –- A building on the campus of the Michigan School for the Deaf has tested positive for the first time for lead in the water, according to a letter issued by the school Wednesday, Jan. 20 to parents and guardians.



"Yesterday (1/19/16), we received the first lead positive water test for the Stevens Hall dormitory (the school building continues to show no lead detected)," reads the letter from Michigan School for the Deaf principal Cecelia Winkler and administrative manager Mark Bouvy.



The school has been purchasing bottled water since September 2015 and had no positive tests for lead prior to the recent result, according to the letter.





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Winkler said the information in the letter was true when reached by phone Wednesday evening, but she forwarded all other comment to a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education.



A call and email to the Michigan Department of Education spokesman were not immediately returned Wednesday evening.



It's unclear in the letter what the positive test showed in terms of the amount of lead found in the water or how frequently tests had taken place prior to the positive result.



The letter further states "Our research shows that lead is not absorbed thru the skin but ingested," with the school exploring the option of filtering water for showers in the dormitory.



Students will have the option for the time being to shower in the school locker room, which the letter states is "presumed lead-free pending further testing."



All faucets in Stevens Hall will be replaced in the next two weeks, with the letter stating "A lot of lead in the city water has been deemed to be coming from the sink faucets installed before the 1990's and copper piping soldered with lead solder." Read The Full Article.



UPDATE:



Faucets replaced at Michigan School for the Deaf after positive lead test. All faucets at the Michigan School for the Deaf were replaced over the weekend after a test showed positive for lead at the campus' Stevens Hall dormitory building.



Martin Ackley, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education, said independent testing showed a level of .028 parts per billion -- well below the 15 ppb allowable under federal guidelines -- at the dorm that houses 75 of the 167 students that live on campus full-time.



"This is a very important issue and the school wanted to make sure the parents knew about the testing," he said, after a letter was issued to parents and guardians about the positive test. "They wanted to inform the parents of that and that remediation was taking place immediately."



Crews were in the school over the weekend to replace all 62 faucets in the dorm, a building that was constructed in the late 1940s, Ackley said. Students have received bottled drinking water at the school since September 2015 as a precautionary measure.



Ackley said the school had been on a waiting list to get the building tested by the state Department of Environmental Quality in mid-December, but the landlord and school administration decided to speed up the process. Read The Full Article



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