650 U.K. schools received educational kits from a charity for testing the lead levels in their water. Students at more than 14 schools then discovered their drinking water had higher lead levels than the recommended maximum. The Guardian reports:
Several schools reported levels of lead at 50 micrograms per litre — five times the maximum allowed. Even low levels of lead are toxic and can reduce children’s IQ and damage their nervous system… The charity conducted its own tests on samples returned by 81 schools and has confirmed that 14 samples have lead above 50 micrograms per litre, with several more showing signs of elevated levels.
The charity is now contacting the schools to alert them and filtration firm Aquaphor, which co-sponsored the project, said it would supply free water filters to affected schools.
“One of the frustrations of most school science is that it doesn’t have any significance,” writes Slashdot reader. “This is a story of one that revealed that lead levels were far higher than everyone was assuming…”
A spokesperson for the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs told the Guardian that “If a school becomes aware they have lead pipework or have a test which has failed for lead, they should contact their local water company who will be required to enforce the removal of the lead pipe by the owner of the building.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.