‘It’s just not a solution’: Experts question why Ontario allows double the federally recommended lead limit in school drinking water

Parents and experts are questioning provincial guidelines around acceptable levels of lead in school drinking water. CTV’s Katelyn Wilson reports.

Ontario remains one of the last provinces in the country allowing double the Health Canada recommended levels of lead in school drinking waters, a policy now facing renewed scrutiny after repeated high test results at an Ottawa elementary school.

A new report from the Canadian Environmental Law Association found Fallingbrook Community Elementary School recorded some of the highest lead test results in Ontario during the 2024-25 school year.

One test measured 300 parts per billion of lead, 30 times Ontario’s current limit of 10 parts per billion and 60 times higher than the federal guideline of five parts per billion.

“It is every parent’s worst nightmare to discover that their child may have been exposed to dangerous amounts of lead in the water,” said Barbara Daniela-Gandolfo, a parent at Fallingbrook Community Elementary School.

“We’re not talking about it failing by one part per billion but 300 and that was after they flushed the system three times I believe, previously,” said Garrett Hansen, another parent. “Then it did the pass-fail, pass-fail, pass-fail but there’s no information online that says if they did any corrective action.”

The report also found the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board recorded more failed lead tests than any other school board in the province.

According to Ottawa Public Health, schools are responsible for informing parents when high lead levels are detected, but parents at Fallingbrook say they were never told.

“It’s frustrating, it’s concerning and it’s alarming,” said Daniela-Gandolfo. “We should be receiving information on a regular basis where that it explains where we are in the testing, how safe the water is to drink.”

Lead was commonly used in plumbing and fixtures until the 1990s. Experts say even low levels of lead exposure can harm children and have been linked to developmental impacts including lower IQ, learning disabilities and ADHD.

Health Canada says it lowered its guideline in 2019 after new scientific studies showed that health effects can occur from exposure to lead at much lower levels than previously thought.

“The Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality for Lead represent a benchmark for all jurisdictions to strive towards and advise keeping lead levels as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) to minimize health risks. Any reduction of exposure to lead decreases the risk of negative health effects," Health Canada said in a statement.

“The guidelines include advice on reducing exposure to lead in drinking water including both permanent solutions (such as replacing lead service lines) and temporary measures (such as using a carbon-based water filter certified to remove lead).”

“We know no amount of lead is safe especially because children are so susceptible to the health impacts of lead,” said Julie Mutis with the Canadian Environmental Law Association.

In a statement to CTV News, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board said fixtures that exceed provincial standards are immediately taken out of service. The board added some testing occurred during summer months when water use is lower, which it believes contributed to higher failure rates.

“We’re obviously putting significant resources into rebuilding and repairing schools across the province but look, it’s no different than any other place. So, we take this very seriously and we ensure that the water, if they can’t drink from the taps, the school boards ensure that there are other ways that the kids can get water,” said Paul Calandra, Ontario’s Education Minister.

But for parents and experts, the larger question is why Ontario still allows more lead in school drinking water than Health Canada recommends.

“What we’re talking about is ongoing exposures and at a population level that could lead to a large number of children losing one or two IQ points,” said Bruce Lanphear, a health sciences professor at Simon Fraser University.

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks did not provide an interview to CTV News. However, in a written response obtained by CTV News, the province said Ontario has “one of the most comprehensive testing and mitigation strategies in the country.”

“It’s our goal to have clean drinking water right across our province, no matter where you’re at so that’s one of our highest priorities,” Premier Doug Ford said on Friday, when asked about the levels of lead in drinking water at schools in Ontario.

“I think it’s very important to have clean drinking water. That’s one of our top priorities and that’s why we’re investing billions and billions of dollars through the school systems, and we’re going to make that a priority.”

The ministry said schools are required to flush plumbing systems daily or weekly based on testing results to help prevent lead from leaching into drinking water.

But critics argue flushing is only a temporary fix.

“It can build up again within 30 minutes, it’s just not a solution and that’s been shown time and time again,” Lanphear said. “These subtle exposures have big consequences and if we can’t understand those, we’re not going to protect children or the public from lead. These subtle things can cause big impacts on our health, and we expect our public health leaders to be able to see that.”

According to the Canadian Environmental Law Association’s report, in other provinces like Quebec, which has already adopted Health Canada’s standard, “per-use flushing, as opposed to Ontario’s once-daily approach, is the lowest-tier intervention and only used in situations where the flushed sample is under 5ppb, the fixture is a necessary water source, and a more effective solution is not immediately available.”

In 2007, Ontario introduced O. Reg. 243/07, requiring schools to test, respond and report on lead levels in drinking water.

“When this regulation for looking for lead and responding to it in schools and daycares in Ontario was created in 2007, it was top of the class, really setting an example for the rest of the country,” said the Canadian Environmental Law Association’s Mutis. “In the nearly 20 years since then, we’ve seen other provinces surpass us and we’ve seen that they’re relying on things that are actually going to stop children from being exposed to lead, as opposed to just reducing it.”

Parents at Fallingbrook have now launched a petition urging the province to adopt Health Canada’s lead standards and install filters where necessary.

“Any amount of lead is concerning,” said MPP Tyler Watt. “There’s a ton of repair, backlogs that we need to get done and one of the points I was trying to make… was if we have $29 million for a luxury private jet for the premier that would be invested in things like repairing these issues in our schools and addressing the actual concerns of parents and students.”

In the meantime, some parents say they are sending their children to school with water from home while pushing for long-term solutions instead of temporary fixes.

“We can’t just say ‘it’s good enough, we’ve done the minimum,’” Hansen said. “We are part of Canada we should have the same regulation on water quality as the rest of Canada.”

In 2024, the Investigative Journalism Bureau launched a database in collaboration with the University of Toronto’s HIVE Lab, where parents can check their schools and daycares lead test results between 2019 and 2023.

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