Elevated levels of lead have been found in the drinking water of several New York City schools, including NEST+m, the Lower East Side school for gifted kids at 111 Columbia St. The story was first reported by the Daily News.
Tests conducted by the Department of Education in January found the high lead in 7 of 144 water sources at the school. In each case, the water tested significantly above the city’s “action threshold” of 15 micrograms of lead per liter. A cold water faucet in a boys’ dressing room registered 1,140 micrograms of lead per liter.
A letter from the DOE was sent to parents this week, telling them that the water sources have been turned off and that they will all be replaced. According to the letter, “Each of the affected fixtures will remain out of service until remediation work is completed.”
As the Daily News noted, “no case of lead poisoning has ever been traced to water from a city school.”
NEST+m has a student population of 1,739 (kindergarten through 12th grade).
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