Lead Remediation

All schools now have Remediation Plans. These plans were developed in conjunction with the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Environmental Protection. The plan for each school is unique to the data that were obtained there. MCPS is working to implement the repairs that have been indicated. To complete the work, the water supply for the entire school must be shut down at least once; so repairs are being completed after hours, on the weekend, or during breaks.

At this point, we have 68 schools that have “graduated” from the program, meaning that there were no fixtures identified for replacement (List), or that all problems have been remediated and passed verification testing (List). A schedule showing the status of all schools is available. Most of the other schools have been released by the health department from the frequent flushing and the bubbler restrictions – there are only 8 that still must flush every 4 hours or have special restrictions. 94 schools are in the post-remediation testing phase (in many cases we are only waiting for 1 or 2 fixtures to pass testing). 40 schools have been released from the frequent flushing, but individual faucets/bubblers are disabled as they are awaiting repairs.

In addition, at all schools, regardless of the remediation status, all drinking water fixtures must be flushed first thing in the morning for at least one minute. (15 minutes for the refrigerated coolers). This is communicated annually to the principals in a Safety and Security Memo which is also included in the Principal’s Handbook.

As milestones are reached in the remediation process, correspondence is sent to principals, which is specific to the situation at each school. You should be able to obtain information from each principal. Should you have additional questions, please contact Lynne Zarate.

Updated April 11, 2007