ARVADA — Water tested from a faucet at a Head Start facility in Arvada showed lead levels 12 times higher than the federal government’s “action level” for the toxic substance.
The reading of 180 parts per billion, made public Friday, is well above the 15 ppb that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency .
“There is really no safe level of lead for anybody,” Jim Rada, environmental health director for Jefferson County Public Health, said from the empty lobby of the Head Start building at 5150 Allison Street on Friday.
Rada stressed that the lead reading comes from a single sample at one faucet and that it’s not yet known if water is contaminated throughout the facility, which was home to Russell Elementary School until 2010 and now serves 315 students age 3 to 5 as part of the federal Head Start preschool program.
County and city officials collected nearly 70 water samples from all over the building and outside it Friday and results from those efforts are expected to be released Monday.
“That will help us establish whether the lead is in the building or coming from the city system,” Rada said.
Arvada sent out a fact sheet Friday stating that its municipal water supply is “absolutely safe” and that the “elevated lead levels are confined” to the Head Start building, which was built in the 1950s, and “possibly to the sink where the initial sample was taken.”
The city said none of its main lines or service lines contain lead components and its extensive testing for the substance shows levels that are “below detection limits.” It also said it maintains pH levels to “prevent water from being corrosive” and drawing out lead from pipes.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead is particularly harmful to the developing brain and nervous system of fetuses and young children.
Lynnae Flora, a spokeswoman with Jefferson County Human Services, said she personally called 20 parents to alert them of the situation. Some were upset, she said.
“We all said we’re going to figure this out,” she said.
The initial water sample was turned into the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment by a Head Start employee on March 28, after he noticed that the water had an odd color.
The agency notified Jefferson County, which owns the building, on Wednesday. .
“We’ve taken immediate steps to remove the children from the hazard,” Rada said.
The program will resume on Monday and students will be provided bottled water.
Rada said his department deals with elevated levels of lead from time to time with individual homeowners but a situation where contamination could affect so many people in one place is rare.
He said the county is trying to put together a program to offer blood level screening tests to families but he didn’t know when that service might become available.
John Aguilar: 303-954-1695, jaguilar@denverpost.com or @abuvthefold
