ICYMI: Lead In Water 100 Times Above Limit In Parsippany Elementary School

Editor's note: ICYMI is a look back at the town's biggest story of the week.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – More test results from Parsippany school buildings have been reported, and the Lake Hiawatha Elementary School showed some staggering – and dangerous – levels of lead in drinking water.

A partial testing released Thursday by the school district showed 10 areas of the building to be above the 15 ppb, or parts per billion, allowable threshold of lead in the drinking water. Some of those areas, specifically in the preschool rooms, were as much as 104 times higher than the maximum allowed, the results showed.

The locations tested, and their results, include:

• Hallway – Between Custodian Office and Boy’s Bathroom – 83.5 ppb
• Classroom # 1 – Preschool – 1040 ppb
• Classroom # 2 – Preschool – 262 ppb
• Classroom # 21 – 1 st Grade – 16.6 ppb
• Classroom # 6 – Preschool – 1570 ppb
• Classroom 37 – Kindergarten – 148 ppb
• Classroom # 8 – Kindergarten – 98.6 ppb
• Classroom # 9 – Staff Room – 15.4 ppb
• Classroom # 18 – 2 nd Grade – 963 ppb
• Classroom # 17 – 2 nd Grade – 664 ppb

See related: Another Parsippany School Reports High Levels Of Lead In Drinking Water

The district said the results are preliminary, and that all rooms at Lake Hiawatha school will be tested Friday, April 29. In the meantime, bottled water is being provided to all students and staff, and drinking fountains have been shut off.

Additionally, Lake Parsippany Elementary and Littleton Elementary schools returned negative results in all their tested areas.

See related: Lead Found In Drinking Water At Parsippany Schools

Spurred by the recent news out of Newark, New Jersey’s school districts and its overwhelming amount of lead in the water, Parsippany decided to have its school buildings tested.

All 14 buildings underwent testing and included drinking fountains, food preparation areas, and home economics classrooms. Results for five schools were returned Monday, April 18.

Parsippany High School returned one positive test which came from the boiler room, which has a valve not used by students or teachers, and is only for use by the custodian and maintenance personnel. That test showed a 220 ppb.

It was the same over at Central Middle School, where the water pump room – only accessed by maintenance personnel – had a 66 ppb.

The same occurred at Parsippany Hills High School, where the boiler room utility valve returned a test of 100 ppb.

None of those valves are tied to drinking water in any of the buildings. Brooklawn Middle School returned no high results.