Is There Really Lead in KCI's Water?

By: Finnian Gilbride and Caleb Crawford

“Did you hear there is lead in the school water?” This is a common question that can be heard around the school. But how true is this? And if so, how much lead is too much lead? Those are the daunting questions that our brave team of journalists here at The Edge set out to answer. We discovered that the lead concentration of every single water fixture in WRDSB schools is recorded annually and publicly available online (The website is here if you want to check it out). This article will go over KCI’s history with lead in the water, some of the more interesting lead tests that have happened in the school board in the past few years, and then finally answer the age old question: Is there actually lead in the water?

Lead is pretty serious stuff, it can get into our water supply by means of old lead pipes, faucets, or other water fixtures. Ingesting or inhaling lead can cause increased blood pressure, kidney damage, digestive problems, nerve damage, memory loss, fatigue, headaches, and can even be fatal in high enough doses.  Lead can also affect your behaviour pretty significantly, especially when you wear a hat that has lead in it, which is where the term mad hatter comes from.

While the ideal amount of lead to have in your drinking water is none, the Ontario drinking water quality standard for lead is a maximum of 10 micrograms per litre (10 µg/L or 0.010 milligrams per litre). The water in schools is tested rigorously; if it’s not up to the provincial standard, the plumbing is flushed to remove impurities. If the issue is resolved after the flushing, the plumbing is flushed daily for the next two years, and if the water is still not up to the standard, the fixture is closed until the issue can be resolved.

In 2023, only three schools had lead exceedance - too much lead - in the initial tests that were done (Highland, Westheights, and St. Andrews). However in 2022, sixteen schools had lead exceedance in the initial tests, including KCI, which had four different water fixtures exceed the maximum allowance. All four were safe to drink after the water was flushed, so they are all being flushed daily until the 2024 tests come in.

The year that saw the most schools with lead exceedance was 2019, with twenty eight schools on the list. 2023 is the year with the least, with only three schools. KCI has had lead exceedance in 2018, 2019 and 2021 as well, but only in 2018 was a water fixture rendered unusable due to an excess of lead. The water fountain maintained a concentration of 10.3 micrograms per litre and was rendered permanently unusable. KCI’s highest concentration before the water was flushed was 43.1 µg/L in 2021.

In 2017, a Parkway water fixture had a lead concentration of 284 µg/L, and after it was flushed, still maintained a concentration of 68.5 µg/L, almost seven times the maximum lead allowance. In the same year, a Waterloo Oxford water fountain registered 183 µg/L prior to flushing. That dropped to a more reasonable 19.4 µg/L after it was flushed, however that’s still double the maximum allowance. The tap was removed and the water fountain was closed. In 2019, Glencairn Public School had a similar case, with a lead concentration of 134 µg/L and a flushed concentration 34.4 µg/L, as well as Cameron Heights in 2021 (141 µg/L and 60.5 µg/L)

Additionally, sixteen different schools have had their lead concentrations increase after the water was flushed,including Waterloo Oxford on three separate occasions. Some of the stranger examples of this are Laurentian Public School in 2020, increasing from 14 µg/L to 68.2 µg/L, Franklin Public School in 2018 increasing from 4.5 µg/L, which is an acceptable amount, to 77.9, or Brigadoon Public School in 2019 increasing from 6.6 µg/L to 145 µg/L. But the strangest of these was John Darling Public School in 2019, going from 153 µg/L to a whopping 254 µg/L, which is 25 times the maximum allowance.

The highest lead concentration, both before and after the water was flushed, came from Mary Johnston Public School in 2018. The standing lead concentration was 496.5 micrograms per litre, almost 50 times the maximum allowance. After the water was flushed, it dropped to 266 micrograms per litre, which is still higher than any result of any school since the tests began, either standing or flushed. Needless to say, the water fountain was removed, and all water fixtures in the school were flushed daily for the next two years.

So, to answer the question we asked at the beginning of the article: Yes, KCI water is safe to drink, and so is the water from any school in the WRDSB. Which, although reassuring, is admittedly pretty boring. So, go and have a good long drink from a water fountain, you probably won’t die, at least not from lead poisoning.