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School City of Mishawaka (SCM) signed up for a free lead testing program that was offered to all Indiana public schools that use municipal water. Samples were taken at all SCM schools from October 2017 through February 2018 with the final results coming in March 2018.
Each water sample was accounted for minute-by-minute and all were tested by a state-certified lab. Reports show the vast majority of samples were well below the EPA Action Level for lead, which is 15 ppb (parts per billion) or higher.
Water samples were taken from 398 fixtures throughout all 9 SCM schools. Only 22 (or 6%) tested over 15 ppb. Please note the majority of the 22 samples came from fixtures that are not used for drinking water and/or came from seldom used fixtures. As results came in, each of these 22 fixtures was immediately taken offline and has now been remediated according to state recommendations.
A summary of the corporation's lead tests and individual school details recorded by the state can be found at Indiana Lead Test Results for Schools.
All samples tested below recommended lead level:
- Beiger Elementary School
- Hums Elementary School
- Liberty Elementary School
- John Young Middle School
Samples from 2 fixtures each that showed levels just slightly above the recommended level:
- Battell Elementary School: 16.4 ppb and 19.5 ppb
- Twin Branch Elementary School: 19.6 ppb and 21.1 ppb
- Mishawaka High School: 18 ppb and 38 ppb
Samples showing higher levels:
- Emmons Elementary School: 63.4 ppb and 66.1 ppb
- LaSalle Elementary School: 40.4 ppb, 43 ppb, 69.1 ppb, 95.1 ppb, 132 ppb, and 6 samples slightly above accepted levels
