GUILDERLAND — All five Guilderland elementary schools have water outlets with lead above safe levels.

On Monday the district released results of state-required comprehensive lead testing done in September on the water in the sinks and fountains in its elementary schools. Superintendent Marie Wiles said officials had “no idea why” the school with the largest number of action-level sites — with lead exceeding 15 parts per billion — turned out to be the newest school, Pine Bush Elementary, built in the mid-1990s, after federal laws began to require that lead-free materials be used in new plumbing and plumbing fixtures.

The single site with the highest lead level was a fountain in a fifth-grade classroom at another school, Lynnwood.

The state is requiring public schools to test all water outlets for lead and to remediate any that test above the threshold of 15 parts per billion. Elementary-school testing was completed by the end of September, and the high school will be tested by the end of October.

The district has six weeks to decide how to remediate each outlet, Neil Sanders told The Enterprise Wednesday. Sanders is the district’s assistant superintendent for business. He said that the district’s choices for each one include repiping, installing filtration devices, or taking less-necessary water fountains offline indefinitely and maintaining the “hand-washing only” signs on certain sinks.  

Farnsworth Middle School was tested in September, along with the elementary schools, because it houses a pre-kindergarten, but results are not yet back, said Wiles; she said those results were taking longer because the building is much larger than the elementary schools and contains many more outlets.

Sanders said Wednesday that the first step will be to confer with architects and engineers about possible causes and solutions.

At the board of education meeting Tuesday night, Sanders said, “I suspect that in a lot of the sinks, that would be the remediation — labeling them ‘use for hand-washing only.’”

The state is covering lead testing and remediation costs for schools.

Sanders noted at the meeting Tuesday that the school district’s current estimate for testing alone is $25,000.  

The cost of remediation is impossible to assess at this point, he said at the meeting, since costs of construction, filtration, and signs are so different, and the district has not yet had a chance to start any analysis.  

The district received the test results on Friday, and announced that, over the weekend, all of the sites with action-level results would either be covered over so that they could not be used, or labeled “for hand washing only.”

The school with the largest number of higher-than-recommended levels was the newest, Pine Bush Elementary, with 45 sites, all of them sinks. In September Clifford Nooney, the district’s buildings and grounds supervisor, had told The Enterprise that, because Pine Bush was built after federal laws in 1986 began to limit the amount of lead in new plumbing equipment, officials expected no problem there, and so had not included it in preliminary testing. He said that the district did not “have to” include Pine Bush in its comprehensive testing for lead — the testing result that just came back —  because the building was newer, but that the district would have the thorough testing done anyway, “to reassure everybody.”

Wiles said of Pine Bush’s having the largest number of action-level results, “Obviously it’s a surprise. We believed that there would no issues there.”

Asked if Guilderland would do what the neighboring Voorheesville school district has done after elevated lead levels were found in its outlets — offer blood testing to staff and reimburse parents who have their children tested — Wiles said, “We haven’t even discussed that. I don’t think so.”

The single highest lead level discovered was in Lynnwood Elementary School, in a classroom fountain. The fountain inside fifth-grade classroom 504 showed a lead level of 176, which is 161 ppb higher than the actionable level.

Fountains are considered to be more dangerous than sinks, since lead in water cannot be absorbed into the skin through hand washing or showering, but only by drinking.

The second-highest level, which was at Guilderland Elementary School, was a sink in Boys’ Locker Room 148; that level was 108.

Guilderland Elementary had a total of 26 sites that were over the action level, including 9 fountains and 17 sinks.  

Pine Bush Principal Christopher Sanita told The Enterprise Wednesday, “We had a high number here, certainly, but none of our drinking fountains tested at above 15 parts per billion.”

It’s hard to say, Sanita said, if students might sometimes have used affected sinks, particularly those in classrooms, for filling their water bottles, “but obviously it’s not happening any more.”

He had not heard of students being worried about lead, and as of Wednesday he had only been contacted by one parent who had questions, Sanita said.

Lynnwood had a total of 22 sites — 10 fountains and 12 sinks.

Altamont Elementary had just two sites, both of them sinks; one had a lead level of 16 ppb and the other, in fourth-grade classroom 207, had a level of 69. Altamont Principal Peter Brabant said that that sink would not have been used for drinking; children use a fountain in the hallway to drink or to fill water bottles, he said. The room is currently used a by a fourth-grade class, while in years past it has housed third-grade students, he noted.

Westmere Elementary had three sites, all of them sinks.

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends taking steps to find out if your home’s tapwater contains lead.

Guilderland got a headstart on state-mandated testing this summer when it did preliminary tests of 19 outlets across the district and found measurable amounts of lead contamination in five of the school kitchens, although all of those levels were below the 15 ppb threshold. All of those school kitchens were immediately repiped, Sanders told The Enterprise in September. The plan going forward, he said at the time, was to remediate only the water outlets with action levels of lead.

According to the CDC, no safe blood lead level in children has been identified. “Even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to affect IQ, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement. And effects of lead exposure cannot be corrected,” that agency’s website says.

The best result that can be obtained on the test is not “0” but “<1,” or “undetectable.” Of the 448 samples taken across the Guilderland district in September, 35 came back with this result.

The new mandates were signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sept. 6. Schools that have already tested after Jan. 1, 2015, are exempt. Tests must be conducted at least every five years.

If levels above 15 ppb are found — a level consistent with federal regulations — schools must stop using the outlet that tested high and must “implement a lead remediation plan to mitigate the lead level, and provide building occupants with an adequate alternate supply of water for cooking and drinking,” the state’s Department of Health told The Enterprise in September. Schools must report the lead level to the local health department within one business day.

“Test results must also be provided in writing to all staff and parents no more than 10 business days after receiving the report,” the health department said. “Schools must post the results of all lead testing and any remediation plans on its website as soon as possible but no more than six weeks after the school received the laboratory reports. Once test results indicate that lead levels are below the action level, schools may resume use of the water outlet.”

For levels below 15 ppb, the health department said that schools should “take steps to bring the levels to as close to non-detectable as possible.”

Asked about the risks associated with 15 ppb in drinking water, the health department responded, “There are many factors that influence a child’s risk for lead poisoning from the presence of lead in water including the amount of water consumed, child’s age and weight, and whether the child has also been exposed to lead from paint, soil, dust or other sources.

“Parents whose children are in the locations where lead was found in the drinking water should ask their children’s health care providers whether blood lead testing would be appropriate for their child. New York State law requires that children receive a blood lead test at age 1 and again at age 2 so most health care providers will have information on your child’s previous blood lead level already.”

Finally, asked about precautions that parents might take, the health department advised, “Before using any water from an outlet for drinking or cooking purposes, it is always advisable, whether at school or at home, to run the tap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes until the water is cold to the touch before using. This allows water that has been sitting in the pipe to run to waste. In addition only water from the cold water tap should be used for cooking or drinking.”

Some school districts in New York State have begun to hand out bottled water to students. However, the Centers for Disease Control notes that not all bottled waters have been tested; it recommends contacting independent testing organizations that certify bottled water.

Corrected on Oct. 19, 2016: This article initially had a picture of a sink in Room 504 in Lynnwood Elementary School, which has a high lead count, rather than a water fountain in that same room, which has the highest lead count.

Corrected on Oct. 20, 2016: The original estimate for the cost of lead testing was corrected to the current estimate of $25,000.