Response to water testing news reports
Earlier this week news outlets reported on lead levels in the water at daycares and schools across Ontario. Health Canada has made a new recommendation in 2019 that lead levels should be 5 ppb, whereas the current provincial standard is 10 ppb. The report included a link to search schools and daycares by name to see their recent lead levels: https://globalnews.ca/news/6107982/ontario-schools-daycares-lead-levels/
When you search Montessori Academy of London, all of our sites come up at 0%, except for 742 Waterloo, which is our Junior High & Specialties building. It is noted as being “27.8% above the threshold.” That snapshot of information is misleading; it simply means that 5 out of 18 tests registered above the new federal recommendation in 2019 of 5 ppb. (The highest level recorded in that timeframe was 7.2 ppb.)
All of our sites have met the provincial regulations of the study timeframe, including Junior High. All sites except Junior High have met the 5 ppb level in that same timeframe.
Water quality at Ontario schools is regulated under the Ontario Safe Drinking Water Act, specifically, Regulation 169/03: Ontario Drinking Water Quality Standards, and Regulation 243/07: Schools, Private Schools and Child Care Centres. The Ministry tells us how often we need to test. Because our levels have been regularly under the safe water threshold, they’ve determined that we only need to test every three years.
If at any time, we have a test that comes back indicating a higher level, an investigation begins to determine the source, and we would have to go back to annual tests. In our experience, it has most commonly been a tap issue, and the tap or part is replaced and the water is retested.
If you have any questions about this, please contact Tina Sartori at the school: 519-433-9121 or tsartori@montessori.on.ca.