Elevated levels of lead, copper found at Princeton elementary school

The district has replaced piping at the sinks where elevated levels of lead and copper were found

PRINCETON - Recent water testing at all six Princeton public schools revealed elevated amounts of lead and copper at one building, the district announced recently.

Express-Times Photo | BRUCE WINTERSouth Jersey Times Editorial Board 

A sink in a staff room of Johnson Park Elementary School tested positive for elevated levels of both lead and copper, while an outside fountain at the same elementary school tested positive for elevated levels of copper.

District officials are trying to fix the drinking water problem at the elementary school, they said in a statement Monday. The district shut off the water to the staff room sink and provided a water cooler for staff members, instead.

They also turned off the water to the outside fountain, the statement said. The district plans to retest lead and copper levels in the water to see if the contamination has been reduced.

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The results came in Friday, nearly a month after Princeton Schools announced that they would be testing their district's drinking water. The decision was a precautionary measure after news broke about elevated levels of lead in the drinking water at Newark-area schools, Princeton School officials said at the time.

A company took 85 samples of the drinking water at all of the six schools in the district but only found the elevated copper and lead levels at Johnson Park, the statement said.

The town's health officer, Jeff Grosser, said that the levels were slightly over the maximum levels allowed by the EPA.

"Mr. Grosser also noted that the water flowing into all of the Princeton Public Schools is annually tested by American Water, and is well within acceptable levels," the statement said.

The uncontaminated nature of the water flowing into the school buildings plus the relatively low level of contamination across the district, led Grosser and the testing company to believe the problem at Johnson Park lies with the pipes.

The district is replacing the staff room and outside faucets as well as all faucets in a section of the building that was constructed before 1959, the statement said. 

Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.