SCS reports high lead levels in water at 11 additional schools

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Shelby County Schools says another 11 of their schools tested positive for high levels of lead in their water.

Now a total of 35 SCS campuses have tested positive for lead.

SCS last tested its lead levels in 2017 when testing wasn’t required. Now the district says it plans to test those levels every two years.

The district says the source of all current samples are still being verified; however, results from 2017 show the source was not from pipes within the school but fountains and related equipment.

During a school walk through at Idelwild Elementary, SCS Superintendent Dr. Joris Ray says the water is safe and the sources are the issue. He said since the results were found, contaminated sources have been disconnected and not in use at the schools affected.

Ray also mentioned that many of the sources were sinks and not water fountains.

The following schools tested positive for lead levels above the EPA threshold:

1. Booker T. Washington High
2. Berclair Elementary
3. Central High
4. Charjean Elementary
5. Chickasaw Middle
6. Double Tree Elementary
7. Douglass Pre-K
8. Douglass Elementary/Middle
9. Egypt Elementary
10. Gardenview Elementary
11. Havenview Middle
12. Idlewild Elementary
13. Keystone Elementary
14. Kingsbury Elementary
15. Kingsbury Vocational
16. Raleigh Egypt High
17. Ridgeway Middle
18. Sheffield High
19. South Park Elementary
20. Treadwell Middle
21. Westside Elementary
22. Whitehaven Elementary STEM School
23. Whitehaven High
24. Wooddale High
25. Airways Achievement Academy
26. Brownsville Elementary
27. East High School
28. Ida B. Wells Academy
29. Jackson Elementary
30. Macon-Hall Elementary
31. SCS Prep School-Northeast (Macon)
32. Sherwood Middle
33. Southwind High
34. Trezevant Career and Technical
35. Trezevant High

The SCS risk management team plans to assess each water source for any repairs that need to be made. Then additional samples will be tested within 90 days after the repairs have been made.

Sources that tested 15 parts per million for lead will be removed

While those changes are being made, students can visit any Shelby County Health Department clinic for a free lead screening. A parent or guardian must be present during the screening.

Copyright 2019 WMC. All rights reserved.