The Oregon Trail School District (OTSD) continues to seek an answer to the
discovery of lead in the Welches School’s water and has requests out to
contractors for recommendations on how to proceed, according to district
Communications Director Julia Monteith. As of Wednesday, Sept. 29, the
district received one response, but Monteith noted they will wait for more
before proceeding.

“We want to make sure we talk to two or three contractors and make sure
what we end up doing is the right thing to do,” she said, noting that the most
likely course of action will be installing a neutralizing system into both the
school’s buildings.

In the meantime, the district brought in six water coolers between the two
buildings to provide safe drinking water for students and staff.

“It’s been a really smooth transition to the water coolers,” said Kendra Payne,
Welches Schools Principal. “It’s keeping everybody hydrated.”

Payne added that students are encouraged to bring water bottles to school to
help reduce the number of paper cups being used. She also noted that the
only feedback she’s received about the issue was a question during the
Welches Parent Teacher Community Organization meeting in September.

Monteith noted that the lead issue is more “system wide” in the middle school
building, but more “localized” at the elementary school. But the district is
looking to instal a neutralizing system, which raises the pH level to reduce the
water’s acidity and reduce corrosion, in both buildings.

Monteith added that the work is expected to be performed this fall, although
she noted contractors and labs across the state are busy due to the number of
schools that are addressing the lead issue.

The district announced in August that seven fountains out of 14 and two
faucets in food prep sinks out of two in Welches Middle School contained
slightly elevated levels of lead, ranging from .0206 to .030 milligrams per liter
(mg/L) (the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit is .020), and
subsequently replaced the equipment.

However, further test results the district received on Friday, Aug. 26 revealed
the continued presence of elevated lead levels.In addition, 23 classroom sinks
out of 24 tested revealed elevated levels of lead in the water, ranging from
.0204 to .199 mg/L. Five of the seven fountains with elevated lead levels are
in rooms that are not used by students (but are used for storage), while the
remaining two fountains were sometimes in use.

Results from other facilities in the district revealed four fountains out of ten
and two faucets out of five at Sandy Grade School, one fountain out of 16 at
Kelso Elementary School, 12 fountains out of 15 at Cedar Ridge Middle
School, two faucets out of four at Kelso Elementary School, one faucet out of
one at the Community Connections (across from the Pioneer campus) and one
faucet out of seven at Naas Elementary School higher than the EPA limit.