When lead was found in the water at a high school in Greentown, Indiana, the county responded with blood and water testing.
Eastern Howard High School’s water was tested and shut off early in February.
The school held free blood testing for staff and students through the Howard County Health Department on Friday, Eastern Howard School Corporation communications consultant Donna Petraits said.
Additionally, the Howard County Department of Health is testing the water in houses constructed before 1986 for lead, said Jennifer Sexton, the public health nursing manager for the Howard County Health Department.
In June of 1986, a United States code was adopted that ended the use of pipes or solder that contained lead in public water systems or drinking water for homes.
Sexton said the school screening was the first mass testing in Indiana.
About 633 students and staff members were blood-tested with a finger prick, she said.
The samples were submitted to the Indiana State Department of Health, Sexton said, which will have results in several weeks, as the volume of work for the state lab is now higher than they are usually asked to handle.
The ISDH observed the testing, Sexton said, so that if another community has to conduct a large test, they will have an idea of what worked well in Greentown.
Water is not a common reason for lead poisoning, Sexton said. Children are more likely to show elevated lead levels from lead paint in the home or on toys.
“We will find some positives,” Sexton said. “When we do find that, we’ll do some additional things to try to determine the source.”
The town has not been involved with the school corporation’s testing process or any other actions, Greentown council president Scott Deyoe said in an email.
Sexton did not know how many of the about 650 homes in Greentown were built before 1986, but said she thought a “fair percentage” should be tested.
“We just want them to know what’s in their houses,” Sexton said.
The Eastern Howard School Corporation announced on Facebook they had found 38 water fountains that were tied to water pipes made before 1986.
Twelve were located at the elementary school and 26 at the high school, the post read.
To be safe, the school corporation will add filtration systems to all fountains made before 1996, Petraits said.
Right now, the school system is entirely dependent on bottled water for drinking and cooking, she said.
The schools will begin transitioning back only when the Indiana Department of Environmental Management gives the OK, Petraits said, which could happen soon after the filters are installed and tested.
Sexton said the health department will continue to monitor the public water system to ensure that there is not a larger issue, but added that lead poisoning is something to watch for, whether or not there appears to be a public health crisis.
“Lead poisoning, in general, should be a concern to us at all times,” Sexton said. “Not just during an event like this.”
Indra Frank, the environmental health director for the Hoosier Environmental Council, said the situation in Greentown was indirectly connected to current environmental legislation in the Indiana Senate.
House Bill 1082, proposed by Rep. David Wolkins, R-Winona Lake, was passed by the House of Representatives in a form that would have stopped Indiana environmental agencies from passing regulations that were “more stringent than” any federal limitations. The bill was altered in committee Monday and the original stipulation was removed.
Greentown’s response to the threat of lead poisoning was swift, Frank said, but if HB 1082 had passed in its original form — or if the phrase re-emerges while the Senate rewording and the version that passed in the House are resolved — future responses might not have been.
Frank said the HEC will keep an eye on environmental legislation for the rest of the session.
The HEC doesn’t oppose the current wording, she said.
“It turns out that lead in water is one of the federal things we might want to improve upon,” Frank said.
According to federal statutes, a small utilities department can have up to 24 months to fix a lead-tainted water situation before the state steps in to determine how to end the problem.
“That’s more than enough time for a child to develop lead poisoning,” Frank said. “I would really like to sit down with our drinking water folks and tighten up that timeline.”
