INVESTIGATIONS

Some Arizona water systems left unchecked after detecting high levels of lead

What happens when too much lead is detected in drinking water? Sometimes it depends on who's watching.

Caitlin McGlade
The Republic | azcentral.com
  • Some water providers did not take action after samples revealed elevated lead levels
  • Some said ADEQ reached out years after they reported the high levels of lead
  • ADEQ reached out to them shortly after The Arizona Republic began requesting information
  • The state is now working with water providers to get them on track
A 2013 water quality sample revealed high levels of lead at Oak Creek Elementary School in Cornville.

Several water systems in Arizona that years ago had found unsafe amounts of lead in water samples didn’t start taking required action that includes notifying customers until February.

That was shortly after The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com began requesting information about lead levels in drinking water from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and several water utilities.

The Republic found some water providers did not conduct follow-up testing or notify their customers after water samples revealed elevated lead levels. The Environmental Protection Agency requires that water providers take those steps, and more, if more than 10 percent of their samples reveal the presence of lead contamination at more than 15 parts per billion.

But one water provider was clueless about a high test result until last month.

A 2013 water sample from a single faucet in a church at a boarding school near the Navajo Reservation tested high for lead. No one was notified, and no additional testing was done until last year. Those tests came back below the EPA's action level, though the school has to conduct more testing before it is in the clear.

If two consecutive six-month periods worth of tests show that 90 percent of its water samples fall below 15 parts per billion for lead, the school doesn't have to take further action.

The principal of Holbrook Indian School said he first heard about a possible lead problem on campus when an ADEQ staffer called him in February about the 2013 test results. The school used a contractor to submit water-test results and was never notified that there was a problem.

“It was a bombshell,” said Principal Pedro Ojeda, adding that the caller said, “’You’re going to get a letter and this is going to get reported to the paper and even USA TODAY.’”

The 15 water systems currently under watch in Arizona for high lead samples typically found one or two faucets that tested for high lead levels out of a handful of samples. These providers are supposed to notify their consumers, as they have so few sample sites that one or two faucets make up more than 10 percent of them.

These small water systems on their own wells provide water to places that include trailer parks, rural communities and schools.

About half of those systems got their results more than a year ago. But ADEQ had no records indicating the drinking-water providers had taken the follow-up samples required. One administrator at a school in Gila Bend told The Republic that the school replaced its filtering system and is conducting monthly testing. The state did not have the results.

'Room for improvement'

A water sample from the drinking fountain and faucet in the preschool room at Oak Creek Elementary revealed high levels of lead.

“The biggest room in the world is room for improvement,” Misael Cabrera, director of ADEQ, said in response to questions about why the water systems had not complied with federal regulations.

Cabrera said the crisis in Flint, Mich., and recent media attention prompted ADEQ to review its oversight. The department found that it needed a closer watch on water providers dealing with possible lead problems.

The department has since asked all providers to notify their customers if their submitted lead samples currently require them to take action. It also is building a tracking system to keep tabs on where water providers stand in the process of complying with lead and copper rules, Cabrera said.

Cabrera said it is the responsibility of the water provider to follow the lead- and copper-rule steps that require action when lead levels are found to be elevated in water.

“But we can certainly improve our oversight role,” he said.

Terry Heckman, a board member at the Arizona Water Quality Association, said he believes notifying the entire customer base about one or two site-specific lead problems isn’t necessary and causes undue alarm.

But Heckman said it is paramount for water providers to follow up with additional testing when they find water samples with high lead levels.

And the government, he said, should make sure of it.

“You would hope that the cities and the counties and the state and the federal government would be holding people’s feet to the fire when it comes to providing quality water to the consumer if there is an issue,” said Heckman, whose trade group represents professionals in water-quality management.

“That’s what the government is supposed to do."

Lead uncommon in Arizona water

Since 2012, about 3 percent of water systems in Arizona reported to ADEQ lead samples requiring action under the federal standards. Not included in those statistics, however, are larger systems with the same number of sites revealing similar or higher levels of lead as those in the 3 percent.

That's because water providers exceed the action level for lead only if more than 10 percent of their samples turn up possible problems.

Roughly 150 providers over the past several years had at least one water sample with more than 15 parts per billion. Most found just one or two such samples.

Beyond Flint: Excessive lead levels found in almost 2,000 water systems across all 50 states

Tempe, for example, found lead at more than 15 parts per billion at four test sites out of 50 sampled last year.  That doesn’t mean that there is a problem with Tempe water, but more likely that a few of the households selected to submit water samples had old lead pipes, lead solder or components such as faucets that contain lead.

Only two other major cities besides Tempe reported tests over the past several years that revealed lead levels at more than 15 parts per billion. Phoenix had one sample and Mesa had two.

ADEQ's Cabrera said having one or two samples with high lead levels doesn’t always mean a problem. Some may prove to be analytical errors in a lab; others may be the result of water sitting in the line for too long, he said.

'Things probably fell through the cracks'

The water to the faucet and drinking fountain in the preschool room is now turned off.

Cabrera said he didn't know of any ADEQ violations issued to water providers for not following the lead and copper rule. Staff first seek to help them get their issue resolved, he said.

But some water providers told The Republic they weren’t aware they needed to do any follow-up.

A small water company near the Mexico border sampled drinking water that tested high in 2013. But Southwestern Utility Management did not conduct additional testing for the affected Bisbee Junction customer area or notify the homeowner that had submitted the sample.

Lead taints drinking water in hundreds of schools, day cares across USA

Keith Dojaquez, general operations manager for Southwestern, said ADEQ didn’t require him to do those things. In February, however, ADEQ told him to conduct follow-up testing.

“Things probably fell through the cracks,” Dojaquez said.

Two water-quality samples from a small community in eastern Arizona came back in 2013 at more than four times the action level — 73 and 69 parts per billion. The water district did not conduct follow-up tests for years.

Operator Barry Harville, who took over the Porter Creek Water Improvement District this year, said the folks before him “dropped the ball.” It turned out that the previous operators had submitted water samples under the wrong water system.

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The business manager at an elementary school near Sedona took responsibility for not knowing the steps he needed to take to comply with the lead and copper rule.

The school, Oak Creek Elementary, submitted water samples in 2013 showing that a sink and a drinking fountain in the preschool revealed elevated levels of lead, which would require the school to take action.

The ADEQ reached out to the school in February, and the district published a notification for parents. The classroom, however, had already been on bottled water because the classroom teacher thought the water tasted bad.

Although a follow-up test at the same site in 2014 came back clear, the school is replacing the pipes at the problem area and is on a tighter testing schedule.

“Other people in the community said ADEQ should be a little bit more proactive,” the district’s business manager, David Snyder, said.

Lead action-level exceedance 

Water providers trigger the "action-level exceedance" for lead when more than 10 percent of their test sites reveal lead levels at more than 15 parts per billion. That means that they must conduct testing at six-month intervals, notify their customers and resolve the problem if the tests do not come back clear after two consecutive testing periods.