Testing for Lead in Water

GCPS is taking a proactive opportunity to ensure the health and safety of students and staff by participating in the “Clean Water for Georgia Kids” program, as a logical next step in its long history of actions to ensure that water provided in the district’s schools remains safe to consume.

It is a voluntary program, funded with an E.P. A. grant and developed by the State, with a mission to identify and eliminate lead in drinking and cooking water where Georgia children learn and play.

Water from all fixtures supplying water for drinking and cooking in a school will be sampled and tested.

All schools will be tested, beginning with elementary schools, followed by middle schools, then high schools. 

Testing will begin in January 2024, and will be completed around the start of the new school year in August 2024. The specific sampling schedule will be made available on the GCPS website, along with information on methodology and other related resources.

Water samples will be taken by GCPS staff trained in appropriate sampling methods. Samples will be tested by RTI International, a North Carolina based commercial laboratory that has partnered with the Georgia State Department of Education to support the water testing program. RTI International is an EPA Accredited Lead Testing Laboratory.

Samples will be submitted within ten days of collection, but an exact turnaround time for results is not available; however, RTI is committed to providing results in a timely manner.

Yes, results from RTI will be available online and a link to those results will be available on the GCPS websites.

The action taken for a positive sample will depend on the level of lead detected. When the level detected exceeds the E.P.A. action level of 15 parts per billion (ppb) for public water systems, the related fixture will be immediately shut off or otherwise isolated to remove it from service. Appropriate remediation steps, such as fixture replacement, will be taken. The fixture will not be returned to service until samples taken after remediation test below the action level.

No, water will only be shut off at a fixture testing above the action level. Repairs will begin immediately.  However, the fixture will not be returned to service until after a retest confirms that the repair addressed the issue.

Information will be regularly updated on this GCPS website in response to questions from the community.