Orléans parents petition province over lead levels in school drinking water

A child drinks from a water fountain. (Credit: tornado98/iStockphoto/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

A group of Orléans parents are petitioning the Ford government to address lead levels in Ottawa-Carleton District School Board taps and to bring Ontario’s provincial standard in line with stricter federal guidelines.

The push follows a recent Canadian Environmental Law Association report that analyzed positive lead tests across Ontario school boards. It found that the OCDSB had the highest level of tests above the maximum by a wide margin.

At the heart of the issue: Ontario’s maximum allowable lead level is 10 parts per billion — double what Health Canada recommends. Ontario is one of only two provinces that hasn’t adopted the tighter federal standard.

The World Health Organization and other health authorities warn even low levels of lead can significantly harm a child’s development.

Fallingbrook Community Elementary School had among the highest number of positive tests in the OCDSB and some parents with children at the school were alarmed by the recent analysis and media reports on the issue, including Crystal Mask.

“It decreases the IQ, decreases attention span, motor skills, weaknesses and behavioral problems especially in young children,” Mask told CFRA Weekends, echoing findings from the World Health Organization.

“These are serious concerns that we shouldn’t have to worry about with our kids going to school.”

Mask and her husband, Garrett Hansen, have taken the step to buy cases of bottled water for her daughter’s entire kindergarten class.

“I want to make sure none of these children, not just our daughter, but none of these children are drinking from the water at the school,” Mask said.

“If I could supply for the whole school, I would at this point, because I am very concerned.”

The current system takes no action until lead levels reach the much higher provincial threshold, and testing results only indicate a pass or fail, leading parents to also raise concerns about a lack of clear information and communication. They also say there’s no notifications to parents.

“They are not doing due diligence and putting this forward,” Hansen said, adding he feels there’s a lack of accountability.

Mask, Hansen and fellow parent Matt Stus have launched a petition to demand changes from the province that, among other things, include the adoption of the federal standard and increased transparency when it comes to tracking and action.

“We’d just love to see things start to get fixed,” Stus said.

“It’s all about the kids and the health of our children and the next generations coming forward.”

The parents recently met with Orléans Liberal MPP Stephen Blais, who plans to table the petition in the Ontario Legislature.

Blais, who serves as his party’s critic on infrastructure and municipal affairs, said he was “very surprised” to learn of the issue and wrote to the Minister of Education and Robert Plamandon, the provincial supervisor appointed to oversee the OCDSB.

He had not received a response from the Minister as of this week and said that while Plamondon did set up a video conference to discuss how they were addressing the issue, there was little concrete information that would alleviate concerns.

“I’m not sure they’ve really provided full answers that satisfy reasonable concerns from parents,” Blais said.

Plamondon did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

When the issue was first raised in a report by Newstalk 580 CFRA last month, the Ministry of Education did not respond for a request for comment.

At the time, the Ministry of the Environment declined an interview and provided a statement that said the province had one of the most “comprehensive provincial testing and mitigation strategies in the country.”

It said schools are required to flush their plumbing on a daily or weekly basis, depending on the most recent fixture test results and that “immediate corrective action” was taken as directed by the local health authorities.

“This approach has ensured there have been no reported cases of lead poisoning in children due to drinking water in the last 10 years.”

The statement did not address the gap between provincial and federal standards and the potential impacts on children. Follow-up questions went unanswered.

When parents’ concerns were raised again this week, a ministry spokesperson re-issued the same statement without addressing specific questions.

Blais said the province should adopt the Health Canada guideline and invest in infrastructure upgrades, as he noted the problem isn’t with Ottawa’s drinking water, it’s with the aging infrastructure of schools.

“We should absolutely adopt the federal standard, have an aggressive testing regime, and set aside the resources to bring those faucets and plumbing fixtures up to a modern standard,” he said.

“We know the consequences of lead in water. It may be expensive to test, it might be expensive to fix — but we owe it to our kids.”

The OCDSB said in a statement last month it regularly tests water fixtures in accordance with provincial standards and posts results online for transparency, though, the latest results posted are from 2024.

It did not say how or if parents are notified, something Ottawa Public Health (OPH) said is the school’s responsibility and that parents say has not happened.

OPH said in a statement that its “main role in this situation is to provide guidance and support to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to maintain safe drinking water for all.”

It noted that the city’s drinking water is lead-free but that it can “dissolve into drinking water during its contact with lead pipes, brass fixtures, and lead solder if these were present within a school or the service line that leads into the school.”

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