[BHS Etree] BUSD: Water Testing Notice

[BHS Etree]

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Dear Berkeley High School Families and Staff,



Our local community water provider, East Bay Municipal Utility District
(EBMUD) is conducting testing at all pre-kindergarten to 12th grade school
sites. This is because a new California State law (Assembly Bill 746)
requires California public schools to check for lead in drinking water,
which may be caused by corrosion of plumbing materials.



In December 2017, Berkeley Unified School District engaged EBMUD to sample
the water in our schools. Recent lab results received from the sampling of
water from the five fixtures tested at Berkeley High School did not find
any water samples to be above the regulatory “reporting and action level”
of 15 parts per billion.



Following the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, we
have adopted a higher standard than the 15 ppb level required by state
regulations. The BUSD Guidelines for Drinking Water include removal of any
fixture that tests at 1 part per billion (1 ppb) or above and to keep it
out of service until the source is identified and remedied, and then
retested. Lab results from the December samplings indicate that two of the
fixtures tested at Berkeley High School came back with a result of 6.2 and
2.3 ppb. These fixtures were taken out of service and the source of
corrosion is being investigated. Once identified, the source of lead will
be remedied and re-tested before being returned to service. Based on our
findings, we will develop a plan for testing the water from additional
fixtures as appropriate.



To ensure that you have access to useful and timely information about our
water testing efforts, we have set up a web page with information on our
water quality testing along with results of the testing from each school:



       www.berkeleyschools.net/waterquality



Access to healthy tap water is essential for staff, students and families.
EBMUD has a rigorous corrosion prevention system to ensure that drinking
water meets and surpasses all state and federal drinking water requirements
and we will continue to work closely with them. Additional information from
EBMUD on this testing effort and resources related to other sources of lead
poisoning is included with this message.



We are in communication with Principal Erin Schweng and will keep the
community informed by making updates to the district’s webpage on water
quality as new information becomes available. Meanwhile, if you have
questions or concerns, please contact your school principal, or email me at
superintendent at berkeley.net or call my office at 644-6206.



Sincerely,



Donald Evans, Ed.D.

Superintendent

_____________________________

Marguerite Fa-Kaji, Jenny Fosket, and Dylan Kaufman are the
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http://bit.ly/BUSDNDPolicy



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