See what we learned from past test results the school district released Thursday night.
NEWARK -- In light of elevated levels of lead found in the drinking water at Newark Public Schools, the district released data Thursday night reflecting the lead levels found in water samples taken at the district over the past four school years.
District officials are currently working with state and federal agencies to re-test and eventually remediate the elevated lead levels. The current work has lead to many questions about how long lead amounts have been above the "action level" -- a marker at which the Environmental Protection Agency says samples should be reevaluated and remediated.
Here are four trends we can see in the numbers recently released by the district:
The highest levels detected in schools are lower this year
The highest level of lead detected in any school during this school year was 558 ppb at Bard High School Early College. That is lower than the highest levels detected in each of the three previous school years: in 2014-15, 2,290 ppb was detected at BRICK/Avon Academy; in 2013-14, Gateway Renaissance Academy recorded a 1,590 ppb level; in 2012-13, 984 ppb was recorded at Ivy Hill.
The highest levels reported were still far lower than those recorded in Flint, Michigan, where a water crisis saw lead levels exceeding 13,000 ppb in some measured taps.
The vast majority of water taps tested below the federal action level
Each year, only about 10 to 12 percent of the approximately 700 taps that were tested in all of the district's school buildings reported lead amounts above the EPA's action level of 15 parts per billion. But, the percentage of contaminated taps is up from the 2012-13 school year.
Here are the percentages, according to Newark schools:
- In 2012-13, 6.84 percent of water samples were at or above action level
- In 2013-14, 13.31 percent of water samples were at or above action level
- In 2014-15, 15.27 percent of water samples were at or above action level
- In 2015-16, 9.61 percent of water samples were at or above action level
25 schools have been above the action level for at least two school years
The district identified 25 school buildings that had at least one sample above the federal action level in both the 2014-15 school year, and this year. Those schools, which have had the taps turned off and are using bottled water, are:
- Barringer High School
- Benjamin Franklin School
- Berliner School
- Branch Brook School
- Camden Street Middle School
- Carver School
- Cleveland School
- Ivy Hill School
- John F. Kennedy School
- Louise A. Spencer School
- Luis Munoz Marin School
- Maple Avenue Annex
- Miller Street School Building
- New Jersey Regional Day School
- Newark Leadership Academy
- Newton School
- Old First Avenue/Old Elliott Annex
- Old Speedway School
- Ridge Street School
- Ridge Street School (K-1 annex)
- Roberto Clemente School
- South 17th Street School
- South Street School
- Weequahic School
- West Side High School
The number of samples above 100 ppb is down
Only 10 water samples taken throughout the entire district in the 2012-13 school year recorded levels at or above the 100 ppb mark. That number went up to 16 and 15 samples in the next two years, respectively. This year, it was back down to 12 samples.
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.