As Washington, D.C. officials grapple with the widespread lead problem in the District’s water supply, test results indicate that Georgetown University’s campus water supply is safe, university officials said last week.
All but one of the tests conducted found the amount of lead in the water to be below Environmental Protection Agency limits. The results included tests of water conduits and outflows within the grounds of the Main Campus as well as the Medical and Law Centers.
All university facilities, totaling over 100 buildings, were tested, according to Phil Hagan, director of safety and environmental management. Results from tests of off-campus buildings, including townhouses, are expected within one to two weeks.
The testing, which began almost two months ago, involved sampling water lines at the points they enter campus, terminal points along their routes and locations, such as sinks and drinking fountains, where water exits the service lines.
One sample, taken from a drinking fountain in the Basic Science building at the Medical Center, initially returned a result six times higher than the EPA “action level,” the level at which local governments are required to take action.
Hagan said the result could have been an anomaly, possibly due to a long period in which the fountain sat unused. The fountain has since been removed from operation and further testing a short time later registered the lowest amount of lead measurable.
University administrators indicated that problem areas, such as the water fountain, would be subject to additional checks.
The university began planning for the tests two days after the initial Jan. 31 report in The Washington Post of dangerous lead levels in the District’s water system.
“Basically, we’re ahead of everybody on that curve,” Hagan said.
Hagan said that although no one could conclusively say any source of drinking water is completely safe, he was “comfortable with the testing we’ve done so far,” adding, “I drink out of the tap.”
Tests last year by the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority revealed that there were dozens of sites within five blocks of Georgetown’s Main Campus at which lead levels exceeded the EPA limit of 15 parts per billion, including nine locations at which lead levels exceeded 300 parts per billion. The Water and Sewer Authority, which did not report any testing on the Georgetown campus itself, plans to install new water lines at several locations in the Georgetown area in the near future.
David Morrell, vice president of university safety, said that the tests were necessary to keep the university community informed and to “reduce the level of anxiety.”
“I think the university needed to find out on its own what the quality of the water was,” Morrell said. “[We needed] to notify faculty, students and staff of quality [of water] coming into campus every day.”
Morrell also stressed the importance of openness as the situation develops, saying “If there are some areas to be corrected, [we should] let everyone know what’s happening.”
Overall, Morrell said he was pleased with the university response to the situation.
“I think we have been thorough. We have been systematic, which is extremely important,” he said, citing the university’s decision to test campus day-care centers first, because children and pregnant women are in greater danger from lead poisoning.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, it is unlikely that exposure to elevated levels of lead will cause detrimental health effects in adults. Infants, children and pregnant women tend to be more at risk, however, and exposure to lead can result in delays in physical and mental development for children.
The contamination of much of the District’s water system has caused a great deal of controversy over the past months, including citizen complaints against the Water and Sewer Authority and the District’s administration and calls in Congress for changes in EPA procedures governing acceptable levels of lead in drinking water.
University officials stress they are ready to react quickly to any new developments in the situation as further test results, including those from off-campus buildings, are received. “We’ll definitely respond in an appropriate way,” Hagan said.