Tests for lead in the water system at an Arvada preschool building came back overwhelmingly clean, officials announced Monday.
Out of about 70 water samples taken late last week in and around a Head Start building at 5150 Allison St., just three showed lead levels above the Environmental Protection Agency’s “action level” of 15 parts per billion.
Jefferson County officials said those three samples came from a conference room, an office room and a maintenance area — not areas where “children typically drink or use water.”
There are 315 children ages 3 to 5 in the program.
“All classrooms and other areas where children use water tested well below the EPA threshold for lead under both stagnant and flow conditions,” the county said in a release issued Monday.
The Jefferson County facilities and construction management department continues to work with Arvada to determine the source of the contamination and a plan for resolving the issue. The city said last week the water it delivers to customers is “absolutely safe.”
The Head Start facility, formerly Russell Elementary School, after a single sample taken in March from a faucet in the school registered a lead level of 180 ppb — .
A team of personnel from Jefferson County and Arvada visited the school Friday to take numerous water samples from throughout the facility to see whether the lead contamination was widespread.
The Head Start program resumed Monday with bottled water on hand.
Jefferson County Public Health recommends that anyone with concerns regarding a child’s exposure to lead contact their primary doctor to set up a lead exposure screening. Those unable to do so are asked to call the health department at 303-232-6301.
John Aguilar: 303-954-1695, jaguilar@denverpost.com or @abuvthefold
