The Ministry of Education bought the devices for detecting lead in school water, without a call for tenders and at a cost of $ 1.7 million, even before having an evaluation of their performance in hand. indicate documents tabled in the National Assembly.
The uncertain reliability of these measuring instruments called Kemio Heavy Metals gave rise to new parliamentary debates on Wednesday. Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy filed internal emails from the Education and Environment ministries that show the devices were assessed after they were acquired – not before.
“The Minister of Education must redo his homework,” said MP Rizqy. She relayed on Wednesday a request from the Ordre des chimistes du Québec to resume laboratory tests, carried out with the disputed device, having concluded that the water in schools is compliant. The Order is calling for a motion from the National Assembly to resume the tests at risk of being “false negatives”.
The instrument acquired by the government lacks precision, according to an independent study conducted by scientists in Quebec City, revealed last week by The duty : 43% of measurements made using this device underestimated or overestimated the presence of lead in the water; 11% of the data were qualified as “outliers” compared to the average result.
The government has not taken all the necessary measures to ensure the validity of the screening tests, hammered Wednesday Marwah Rizqy, emails in support. The contract for the purchase of Kemio Heavy Metals devices was signed on December 13, 2019. However, the director of infrastructure at the Ministry of Education, Nancy Klein, inquired a year and a half later, in June 2021, the reliability of instruments for measuring lead in water.
“Following the analysis of the device by your team, could you confirm that the use of Kemio Heavy Metals devices can be an appropriate method in the context of screening for lead in water in Quebec schools? », She wrote on June 17, 2021 to the director of the Center of Expertise in Environmental Analysis of Quebec (CEAEQ), Louis Martel.
He replied a month later, on July 12, 2021, that his team assessed the performance of this portable device “at the start of 2020”. “The results of our evaluation demonstrate that the analytical method using the Kemio Heavy Metals device can be used to determine the concentration of lead in drinking water samples in a screening context,” wrote Louis Martel.
Serious consequences
MP Marwah Rizqy hounded the government by recalling the serious consequences of the presence of lead in water: this metal affects children’s brain development and can reduce their intelligence quotient by a value ranging between one and three percentage points. . “The device was purchased in December 2019. The tests were done in 2020. Why did you wait a year and a half to check whether or not it was the best test? “, She launched Wednesday during the question period.
The Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, recalled that the government consulted from the start of the acquisition process a committee of experts led by Professor Michèle Prévost, holder of the Industrial Research Chair in Drinking Water at Polytechnique Montréal, considered a leader in its field. The intervention of the CEAEQ came subsequently, in support of all the steps already taken to validate the device.
Ms. Prévost agreed that the instruments chosen by Quebec are less precise than the analyzes carried out in the laboratory, but remain reliable in “detecting” the presence of lead in water. The goal is to quickly fix problematic fountains and taps, said the professor.
“We are sure that in all schools in Quebec, the water fountains and the drinking water intakes have been tested. Those that were problematic were closed. Unlike in the liberal era, there is no longer anyone who drinks water that exceeds the standards in terms of lead concentration. It’s settled, ”said Minister Roberge.