Work aimed at correcting thousands of water points exceeding lead content standards is progressing “at a snail’s pace” in some Quebec schools, indicate data made public by school service centers.
The Ministry of Education has had the lead content in the water of all schools in Quebec analyzed, mainly in 2020 and at the start of 2021. About 36% of water points in Quebec public schools were doomed because they exceeded the standard of five micrograms of lead per liter of water.
It remains to correct these thousands of fountains and closed taps, by changing the plumbing or installing filters, according to documents unveiled by the Act respecting access to documents from public bodies. Member of Parliament Christine Labrie, from Québec solidaire, obtained data that she considers worrying for the health of students and school staff.
At the Ministry of Education, it is stressed that the water flowing in all school taps is good for consumption, since the problematic taps have been condemned while waiting to be the subject of work. In some schools, water jugs have been installed to replace closed fountains, service centers say.
At the Center de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM) – the largest in Quebec, which brings together nearly 10% of all students in the nation – barely 14% of non-compliant water points have been corrected in elementary schools , and 12% in secondary schools (uncorrected water points remain closed, therefore “secure”); 347 water filters have been installed in the schools of the service center; Another 249 are approved for installation in the near future.
“Turtle Steps”
“Everything indicates that a very small proportion of water points have been corrected in the school network. Now that we have the portrait of non-compliant taps, we must act, but things are progressing steadily, ”laments Christine Labrie. She asks the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, to impose a deadline on service centers to repair school taps or install lead filters.
The Ministry of Education argues that the fountains have already been “secured”, and specifies that an assessment of the work carried out in Quebec schools to rectify the water points is planned for the spring of 2022. “Quebec is the first province in Canada to adopt the new maximum concentration standard of five micrograms per liter in drinking water recommended by Health Canada. This standard is one of the most severe in North America ”, indicates Esther Chouinard, spokesperson for the ministry.
In the constituency of Christine Labrie, the Center de services scolaire de la region de Sherbrooke (CSSRS) identified 210 water points to be closed in primary schools in January 2021. Eight months later, in September 2021, only 40 of these taps had been corrected; 170 were still condemned. The number of accessible taps, but where you had to let the water run one minute before consuming it, however increased slightly, from 285 to 286.
The pace of work is also slow in secondary schools in Sherbrooke, according to data from the CSSRS.
Uneven fixes
MP Christine Labrie insists that all water points in schools be properly repaired or fitted with a filter. For her, the solution of letting the water run for a minute or even 30 seconds before drinking it is unacceptable.
“Just because a poster says to let the water run doesn’t mean the students are going to do it,” she says. Children’s health is at stake, because even a tiny amount of lead in water can affect cognitive development, recalls the solidarity member for Sherbrooke.
Corrections to water points vary greatly from one region to another. For example, the First Seigneuries School Services Center in Quebec City corrected more than 400 fountains or taps between January and September 2021.
The Montreal School Services Center, where about half of the water points are deemed non-compliant, had the water analyzed by an independent laboratory. This method is considered to be more reliable than measurements made using the portable device provided by the Ministry of Education, which only gives an imprecise indication of the presence of lead, underlined the Order of Chemists. of Quebec in recent months.
The CSSDM also has to deal with aging buildings that have been poorly maintained in the past, which increases the pressure on the plumbing systems.
“The water is drinkable in all the CSSDM schools. […] The installation of certified lead-free filters is an effective method of reducing lead concentrations while waiting for plumbing work to be carried out, ”indicates CSSDM spokesperson Alain Perron.