Ridgewood NJ, Fears are growing in New Jersey over how much lead is in school water. Ever since Newark, the state’s largest district, revealed that half its buildings contained lead-tainted water.
While many school districts across North Jersey are rushing to test their drinking water for lead. Experts say lead poising can stunt learning and cause impulsive behavior in children.
Lead has been found in 30 schools in Newark. Other New Jersey towns and cities including Paterson. On Friday, Pascack Hills and Pascack Valley high schools shut down fountains after high levels of lead were found in seven locations and over the weekend lead was detected in water at 2 Hamilton elementary schools.
At the end of March Daniel Fishbein, Ed.D. Superintendent of Ridgewood Schools issued the following statement :
Dear Parent or Guardian:
In 2014 Ridgewood Water exceeded the Action Level for Lead in Ridgewood’s water supply . In January 2015 ,Ridgewood Water said, “The water supply by Ridgewood Water does not have lead in it”
According to Ridgewood Water ,” Lead contamination can occur when water is in contact with plumbing materials containing lead for several hours undisturbed. Corrosion control is the treatment process in which small amounts of phosphates are added to the water in order to prevent lead contamination. The phosphates create a thin coating on the inside of plumbing materials, effectively preventing the corrosion of lead into the water. The implementation of this treatment is nearly complete and we are already detecting the phosphate at all sampling locations. Even though this treatment is highly effective in preventing lead contamination, we recommend that you let the faucet run for several seconds before drawing water for drinking or cooking.”
Ridgewood Water offers discount water test kits . Please call 201-670-5520 or visit Village Hall at 131 N. Maple Ave. Ridgewood, NJ 07450 for more information.
It is time someone took the condition of our water seriously. I have lived in Ridgewood since 1995 and I now consider the water undrinkable. I have tested it over the past year and it consistently tests as “safe” level of chlorine for a pool. Now we have water delivered for drinking.
We are fine. We are safe. Dave Schriber tells us so all the time. We are safe. Water is fine. Repeat ten times, have some water, and move on.
When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water. — Benjamin Franklin
Keep fertilizing your yards, etc…