Posts

Getting the Lead out of School Drinking Water

/in , /by /KPBSby Maya Trabulsi

You cannot see it, smell, or taste it. But lead in drinking water can be toxic, especially to children. The San Diego Unified School District has a new way to deal with this growing concern with its clean water program.

At Clay Elementary School Tuesday, the San Diego Unified showed off its proposed solution to the problem: Filtered water hydration systems installed in all the district’s schools.

The filtered water flows from either the drinking fountain or the tap above it, which is designed for filling up a water bottle. Laura Deehan is a public health advocate with California Public Interest Group (CALPIRG). She urges schools across the state to follow this model.

Full Story

New Safe Drinking Water Plan for San Diego City Schools Approved

/in , /by /KUSI News by Ed Lenderman

The San Diego Unified School Board met today at 5 o’clock and unanimously approved a proposal to have “drinking water-filtration” in all of its schools.

The proposal is the result of something that happened in 2017. The state authorized California’s school districts to ask their water providers for a sampling of the schools’ drinking water.

The City of San Diego Water Department’s sampling of possible lead content in the water, particularly in the district’s older schools, was alarming.  It prompted a concerned district to ask the department to accelerate the testing. In all, 40 schools had to have their drinking water systems remediated because of lead content.

Full Story

San Diego Unified to Consider New Drinking Water Plan Proposal

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by Andrea Lopez-Villafana

School board members of the San Diego Unified School District will consider a proposal Tuesday to install filtered water outlets in schools and update standards for lead in drinking water.

The district staff’s recommendation is for San Diego Unified to remove existing drinking fountains and install approximately 2,000 drinking hydration stations district-wide, according to agenda documents.

The proposal also includes changing the district’s drinking water policy so that all drinking outlets “reduce lead in water content to below 1 ppb,” or parts per billion.

Full Story

SDUSD Sets Priorities for $3.5 Billion in Measure YY Funding

/in , /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Rory Devine

The promise to improve security at San Diego Unified School District schools and fix the problem of lead in the drinking water were the main topics of conversation Tuesday as the board met to discuss the district’s first steps after the passage of Measure YY.

Full Story