Dear Chatham Families,
The health and safety of our students and staff remain our highest priority. I recently shared with you the results of our water testing for lead and I wanted to provide you with an update on the actions we are taking to address the issues the tests identified.
Immediate Measures Taken
As I informed you in my earlier communication, we have completed the following steps across all buildings to ensure the safety of our school community:
All water fountains and kitchen equipment that exceeded state action levels have been shut off.
All sinks that exceeded state action levels have been labeled with "Handwash Only – Do Not Drink" signage.
The District remains in full regulatory compliance for providing an appropriate number of safe water sources relative to the number of students in each building.
Remediation
Moving forward, the District will be addressing the areas that require remediation in the following ways. We have ordered the necessary parts for these upgrades and anticipate they will arrive in approximately two weeks. The installation process is estimated to take three weeks to complete once parts arrive.
Chatham Elementary School
The fountain/bottle filling stations in the grade 1-3 hallway, the grade 4-5 hallway, and in the lobby will have filtration systems installed.
All fountains in grade 2-5 classrooms will be permanently removed.
Fountains in pre-k, kindergarten, and self-contained special education classrooms will remain. Any fountains that exceeded state action levels will have filtration systems and/or new plumbing installed.
All sinks not intended for drinking/food preparation will be labeled with "Handwash Only – Do Not Drink" signage.
The kitchen pot filler will have a filtration system installed.
Chatham Middle School
The fountain/bottle filling stations in the 7th-grade hallway and the 8th-grade hallway will be replaced with new water stations that were donated to the District.
A filtration system will be installed in the faculty room sink.
All classroom water fountains will be removed.
All sinks not intended for drinking/food preparation will be labeled with "Handwash Only – Do Not Drink" signage.
Chatham High School
The fountain/bottle filing stations in the science/art hallway and in the lobby will be replaced.
Filtration systems will be installed in the main office sink and the faculty room sink.
All sinks not intended for drinking/food preparation will be labeled with "Handwash Only – Do Not Drink" signage.
Once all repairs are completed, these water sources will be retested and will not return to service until laboratory results confirm they are below the state action level.
According to the NYS Department of Health, high levels of lead have been associated with health risks, particularly for children. The NYS water testing and remediation standards aim to reduce students' exposure to lead in drinking water. Lead can leach into water through plumbing that contains lead, especially if the water sits in the plumbing for long periods of time.The NYS action level for lead in drinking water is 5 parts per billion (ppb) or above. The state has lowered the standard from 15 ppb, which was the action level at the time we last conducted comprehensive testing here in Chatham.
A full report of our testing results and my earlier letter are available on the District website at https://www.chathamcentralschools.com/page/water-testing-remediation. We appreciate your patience and support as we work to ensure our schools provide the healthiest environment possible for our children. We will continue to keep you updated on our progress.
Fondly,
Andrew Kourt
Superintendent of Schools