Portland Public Schools has a plan to ensure all its schools have clean drinking and cooking water flowing from every fountain and cooking sink. But the safety upgrades will cost $28.5 million and take roughly three years to complete, David Hobbs, director of management at Portland Public Schools, told the school board Monday.
Oregon’s largest school district shut off its drinking water over the summer after uproar over the revelation that the district had kept quiet about high levels of lead and for years given parents false assurances about the safety of school drinking water. Students and teachers at all schools are drinking from 10-gallon water dispensers until fixes are made.
Testing of water from all 10,600 of the district’s fountains and faucets over the summer showed almost every school had lead in its some of its water sources.
The district contracted with engineering firm CH2M Hill to help analyze the problem, and it’s now recommending the district replace all 2,300 drinking fountains and faucets used for cooking. It also says the district should stop relying on water filters and should replace some pipes.
Faulty filters can be a source of lead and making sure the filters are properly maintained is burdensome and difficult. So CH2M Hill says they should be removed.
The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported in June that the district had relied on ineffective filters to safeguard against the neurotoxin.
After all drinking fountains and kitchen water sources are replaced, the district plans to test the water again. If those fountains and faucets still give off lead, pipes leading to them would be replaced – a project that would primarily take place during summers, hence the years-long estimate of when the would would be completed.
The drinking-water scandal also spotlighted that Portland’s schools had a more dangerous source of lead that had gone unaddressed: Paint.
Consulting firm PBS Engineering and Environmental advised district officials that, based on inspections at 24 schools, they project that Portland Public Schools needs to have 850,000 square feet of deteriorated lead paint scraped and painted over, a step they estimated will cost $10.2 million.
This is on top of work Portland Public Schools did over the summer to address risky paint in 40 schools.
The district is looking to pass a school construction bond of $740 million to $790 million in May to pay for these and other school safety repairs, as well to remodel and upgrade Benson and Madison high schools, build a new Lincoln High and possibly build a new Kellogg Middle School.
— Bethany Barnes
bbarnes@oregonian.com
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