Lead tests results back at SSCS; just 6

11/9/2016

By Patsy Nicosia

Just a handful of the fountains and sinks at Sharon Springs Central School have tested positive for lead.
Since September, all New York State public schools have been required to test all water outlets for lead.
At SSCS, six of the 92 water outlets tested came back positive for elevated lead levels.
They are:
An elementary drinking fountain across from the library, a Home and Careers sink, a custodian slop sink, a bus garage slop sink, and two science lab sinks in Room 304.
Superintendent Pat Green said the fountain and sinks were immediately disabled and the school is working on a remediation plan under state guidelines.
New fountains for the elementary wing will be ordered and installed as soon as possible, Mr. Green said, and will likely be part of renovations already in the works there.
Business administrator Tony DiPace said the results are better than expected, considering the school contains wings from the 1930s, 1960s and the 1980s.
Mr. DiPace said the school will probably only need to mark the slop and science lab sinks as having non-potable water-and they're planning to retest the science lab sinks because of some questionable results there.
Curiously, he said, both of the fountains across from the library are on the same water line-but just one tested positive, indicating the issue is something in the fountain itself.
"That was good news," said Mr. Green. "It isolated the problem. Otherwise, we'd be looking at the water line."
More information of the test results is available on the SSCS website at sharonsprings.org.