BlackburnNews.com File Photo. (Photo by Jason Viau)BlackburnNews.com File Photo. (Photo by Jason Viau)
Windsor

Lead in your drinking water; cities test above national guidelines

A massive water study over the past year has turned up disturbing results about the level of lead in the nation's drinking water.

The Institute for Investigative Journalism at Concordia University partnered with 10 media organizations, including Global News and the Toronto Star. A total of 12,000 samples were tested from cities across the country to see if lead levels exceeded the new national safety guidelines of five parts per billion. Health Canada lowered the standard in March of this year.

Unfortunately, drinking water in many cities, including Windsor and London, did.

Related story: WUC reassures residents after lead study

In Ontario, the standard is 10 parts per billion, but the province is working to adapt to the new national guideline. A third of the 919 samples tested in Ontario exceeded the new standard.

Windsor had the highest exceedances of the national standard in Ontario, according to the Toronto Star, with 289 over the past two years.

According to Global News, 60 schools and daycares in the Windsor-Essex region tested above the national standard. St. Jules Catholic School on Norman Road had an exceedance of 100 per cent. Results from the school showed lead content of 10.8 parts per billion, exceeding even the provincial guideline.  St. Jules closed in 2017, and the Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board regularly tests water at all of its schools.  Part of its mitigation strategy is to close water fountains if the water does not meet the guidelines.

In London, half of the samples tested exceeded the national guideline, and 93 schools across London-Middlesex did. Lord Dorchester Secondary School was 75 per cent above the national standard, but below the provincial one at 9.5 parts per billion.

Chatham-Kent had 22 schools and daycares test above national standards, with the highest results at Naahii Ridge where lead content was 21.6 parts per billion, or 47.2 per cent above.

Some cities, including Prince Rupert B.C., Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, and Montreal, had levels higher than those measured in Flint, Michigan, during its lead crisis in 2015.

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