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CBC
a day ago
- General
- CBC
'Lack of coordination' responsible for delay in notifying staff and students about lead in school water
Deputy Minister of the N.W.T. department of Education of Culture and Employment says there was a lack of coordination between his department and other departments of the Northwest Territories. The department has reported elevated levels of lead in the drinking water at two Yellowknife schools. The levels were f irst detected on Jan. 22, but parents and staff were not notified until May 27. ECE deputy minister James Fulford says that has to do with poor communication and coordination within the territorial government. "There was a lack of coordination among my department, Education Culture and Employment, and other departments within the [Government of the Northwest Territories]," he said. Fulford said there will be an independent review to determine what went wrong and how to move forward. He said it's possible there has been lead in the water since before the testing but they don't know for how long. He said he expects the review should only take a week or two and that work is underway for that review to begin. Fulford said he doesn't know how much the review will cost. As a parent with a child in one of the school, he says he recognizes parents concerns and that the department is working to rebuild trust with parents, students and staff. "[The department] places the highest priority on health and safety of students and staff in schools," Fulford said. In a rare weekend press release, the territorial government cast doubt on the water test results. It said best practices were not followed, no outside experts were consulted, and that people with knowledge of water testing within the government were not consulted.
CBC
3 days ago
- General
- CBC
N.W.T. gov't says it didn't use 'best practices' for lead testing at schools
Less than a week after parents were notified lead samples were found in two Yellowknife schools' drinking water, the N.W.T. government is saying it did not use best practices in the initial testing. In an emailed press release that was sent out late Saturday afternoon, the government said the initial water testing in schools "was not conducted using national best practices for water sampling." The government also noted it also undertook the original sampling process without in-house expertise specific to water testing. It said it didn't engage any third-party experts and didn't consult its own internal water quality experts in advance. CBC requested an interview with the department. The N.W.T. Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) previously told CBC it initially decided to test for lead after "increased public attention to the issue," and particularly because of media coverage of testing in the Yukon being delayed. News of lead in the school drinking water broke last week after Yellowknife Education District No. 1 sent notices to parents and staff, stating lead levels in École William McDonald's drinking water were detected at 0.00903 milligrams per litre, while Range Lake School's levels were 0.025 milligrams per litre. Canada's drinking water guidelines state the maximum acceptable level is 0.005 milligrams per litre. Days after the notices were sent out, ECE said in an email that it received its initial test results for water at École William McDonald Middle School and Range Lake North School on Jan. 22. In Saturday's update, the government said "although the original intent was to complete testing quickly with available resources, the lack of expert involvement compromised the reliability of both the process and the results." The territorial government is now re-testing all school water sources where elevated lead levels were previously reported and said "results will be shared as soon as they are received – first with the schools and families, and then with the public." Review of the situation going forward A review of "how this situation unfolded" is currently underway, the government said in its emailed press release. "The GNWT acknowledges the concern this situation has caused. While the original intent of this project was to help confirm the safety of school drinking water, the issues identified in the testing process are now enabling clearer steps to ensure water quality and, if necessary, corrective action," the government wrote. In a statement issued last Wednesday, ECE Minister Caitlin Cleavland said she is "deeply concerned" about the lead levels in the school water but did not commit to making the review itself public.
