Lead found in Wood Middle School water, district plans retest

In a message posted on Parent Square on Wednesday, May 15, the West Linn-Wilsonville School District informed the Inza R. Wood Middle School community that lead had been detected in six water fixtures in the Wilsonville school.

“Of the 121 water samples taken, six exceeded the 15.0 parts per billion (ppb) action level established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and OHA. The EPA and OHA lowered the action threshold from 20.0 ppb to 15.0 ppb in 2021,” the district said in the message.

The district said the lead was detected in science lab faucets.

It’s common for trace amounts of lead to build up in the faucets and water fixtures that aren’t used frequently in older school buildings. In 2016, Gov. Kate Brown directed the Oregon Health Authority and the Department of Education to coordinate a program for school districts, charter schools, and education service districts to test their drinking water and water fixtures for lead every six years, following guidance from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The West Linn-Wilsonville School District tests three or four schools every year.

At Wood Middle School, the fixtures that exceeded 15 ppb will be replaced and retested to ensure that the detection was caused by the older fixtures and not contamination further down the system.