Majority of Schools Come Off Bottled Water

The risk of having radionuclides in drinking water is very low in this province. This is the finding of the Special Water Advisory Group after two years of testing and monitoring for lead-210 in the water supplies of Nova Scotia's schools.

Ten more schools on their own water supplies can come off bottled water effective immediately, the group announced today, Sept. 21. Only seven of all the province's public schools remain on bottled water.

St. Margaret's Bay Elementary School did not meet the Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines for radionuclides in water and will remain on bottled water until a remedy is found. Six other schools are above the Canada Drinking Water Quality Guidelines' levels for uranium and will also remain on bottled water.

Nova Scotia is a leader in investigating natural radionuclide lead-210 in drinking water and in researching information into the various treatment options. Lead-210 is a naturally occurring element that enters the water as a result of the natural breakdown of uranium in the soil.

"Working with the experts on the Special Water Advisory Group, we followed the proper protocols to help us to get a better understanding of the quality of water in our schools," said Education Minister Jamie Muir. "We're very pleased to learn that their research has shown that we don't have a lead-210 problem in our schools. We'll continue to regularly monitor our school water to ensure our students and the staff continue to learn and work in safe and healthy environments."

The research being done is a first in North America. During the research process, the group discovered that the original testing protocol was not providing appropriate results. In the past, it was thought that about 18 schools were above the Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines for lead-210. The new method confirms all but St. Margaret's Bay Elementary School met the Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines for lead-210 in water.

"I thank all of the experts from several different provincial departments and the member from Health Canada, for their hard work analyzing the data and developing a methodology for testing, not only for this province but others around the world," said Pat Wall, senior radiation health officer for the province and chair of the special water advisory group. "This new understanding of how to test for lead-210 will go a long way to helping many other jurisdictions."

Experts making up the advisory group include the province's senior radiation officer, a medical officer of health, a mineral deposit geologist and a senior environmental impact specialist from Health Canada.

Members of the advisory group will be submitting papers and articles regarding their radionuclide research to scientific journals in an effort to share the findings with other jurisdictions. The chair of the committee will also be making presentations to the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Radiation Protection Committee and Federal-Provincial-Territorial Drinking Water Committee in Ottawa in October.

"I am pleased schools meet the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines for lead-210," said Dr. Robert Strang, medical officer of health for the Capital Health District. "I'm confident with the results of the two-year study and, with the exception of a handful, it is safe for the majority of schools that were placed on bottled water to return to using their own water supply."

In the same precautionary fashion, several members of the Special Water Advisory Group have agreed to sit on the provincial Advisory Group on Radon. Radon tests were conducted in the summer as an extension of the work being done to address radionuclides in school water. Results have come back showing levels below the Canadian guidelines for radon in air at schools including Sir John A. MacDonald and St. Margaret's Bay Elementary schools which were retested this summer.

The Department of Environment and Labour has set up a toll-free telephone number for information about radionuclides in well water or radon. The number, which operates between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, is 1-877-9ENVIRO (1-877-936-8476).

Note:
The following is a list of the schools that can come off bottled water:

Annapolis Valley Regional School Board

• Springfield Consolidated -- School closed as part of board's capital planning

Halifax Regional School Board

• Atlantic Memorial-Terence Bay
• Brookside Junior High
• Herring Cove Junior High
• Prospect Road Elementary
• Sir John A. Macdonald High School
• Tantallon Elementary
• Tantallon Junior High
• Terence Bay Elementary

Southwest Regional School Board

• Big Tancook Elementary
• Cape Sable Island

St. Margaret's Bay is the only school that continues to be on bottled water because of lead-210 in the school's drinking water supply. The six other schools below are still on bottled water because the uranium levels were above Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines. In conjunction with the school boards, the Department of Education will be looking at treatment options for these schools.

The following is a list of the schools that will remain on bottled water:

Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board

• Cabot High

Chignecto-Central Regional School Board

• River John Consolidated
• Cyrus Eaton Elementary

Halifax Regional School Board

• East St. Margaret's
• Harrietsfield Elementary
• St. Margaret's Bay Elementary
• William King Elementary