Testing school water for lead is a good start, but households should be tested too.

In ancient Rome, water was piped through lead; the Latin for lead is plumbum, which gave us our word, “plumbing.”

Lead poisoning has been part of human suffering for centuries. Lead is toxic to the kidneys and intestines, to the heart and to bones, and to the nervous and reproductive systems.

It is especially harmful to children whose brains are just developing. An estimated 14 to 20 percent of lead exposure nationwide comes from water, according to a special report on lead poisoning in children from the Environmental Quality Institute. Lead paint in old homes is one of the biggest threats for children. Lead contamination can also come from the soil, from the air, from food, and from consumer products.

The crisis in Flint, Michigan — when the public drinking water source was switched from treated water coming from Detroit to water from the Flint River, which wasn’t treated with corrosion inhibitors — raised national awareness on the health dangers that come from lead contamination. The corrosive water from the Flint River leached lead from aging pipes, causing high lead levels in 6,000 to 12,000 children.

Last week, the Voorheesville school district released information showing lead levels in three sinks at the elementary school were above state and federal standards of acceptable lead levels. The sinks and untested water fountains were immediately shut off and children were supplied with bottled water. The district held a forum on Monday to inform parents and the community about the problem.

We commend school leaders for hosting an informative session and, further, for testing staff for lead levels and paying for blood tests for students whose parents submit receipts to the district. (See related story for details.)

Although such reports can be alarming, the good news is that the state has enacted a requirement that all public schools test their water and make the results public. It is much better to know a problem exists than to be uninformed.

Only with solid information can action be taken to remedy a problem.

The Environmental Quality Institute report notes, “The concern about lead contamination of drinking water in North America as a significant public health problem has generally followed the improved medical understanding of the neurological damage caused by even low levels of lead exposure.” The first major initiative in the United States was the 1986 Federal Lead Ban amending the Safe Drinking Water Act.

“While the actions to ban lead solder, reduce the corrosivity of public water supplies, and remove lead from brass faucets and water meters over the past two decades have significantly reduced tap water lead exposure in the U.S.,” the report says, “further reductions are needed to better protect the health of children.”

The report says that the most powerful and cost-effective measure for further reducing exposure from drinking water may be to encourage and enable households to test their water for lead. Such a program was set up in New York City, which also used corrosion control measures, reducing the median tap water lead levels by 60 percent, the report says.

New York, as a state, is ahead of most with the recent requirement for schools to test for and correct high lead levels. New York also requires that all 1- and 2-year-olds be screened for lead. This allows parents to make changes before irreparable harm is done to a child’s brain.

The state has a Healthy Neighborhoods Program that targets high-risk areas and offers in-home assessments and interventions for health hazards including lead. Albany County is one of 18 counties where those living in targeted neighborhoods  — with the ZIP codes 12202, 12206, 12208, 12209, and 12210 — can have an educator make a home visit. We don’t begrudge the fact that the funding for this program goes to poor neighborhoods. They are the most in need.

“Because poverty limits housing choices, available housing for low-income families is generally found in communities with the oldest housing and the most deferred maintenance,” states New York’s plan for eliminating childhood lead poisoning. “As a result, these children are more likely to live in older deteriorated housing with lead paint hazards.” The Federal General Accounting Office has estimated that 85 percent of lead poisoned children are eligible for Medicaid.

According to the 2000 Census, New York State has over 20 percent of families with children younger than 5 living below the federal poverty line — placing New York third among states with the most families with young children living in poverty.

We urge those who qualify for these state services to use them.

But what about communities like Voorheesville that are considered too wealthy for such government help? We recommend that town government pick up the slack and pay for water tests in households that can’t afford them. Children probably drink more water and eat more food cooked with water at home than they do at school. Local governments lending a helping hand to families in need could make the difference between a child having a healthy brain and bright future as opposed to a life of frustration and failure.

The state report says, “The harmful effects of lead occur even at concentrations below the current ‘level of concern’ ... Lead may in fact exert the largest incremental effects on IQ at blood levels below” that.

Homes built before 1986 are more likely to have lead pipes, fixtures, and solder, according the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and the towns we cover certainly have a lot of houses older than that.

Most of the lead problems — except in egregious cases like Flint, Michigan — come not from a public water supply but from the pipes inside a house. The EPA requires all community water systems to prepare and deliver annual water quality reports for their customers by July 1 of each year.

The towns we cover have, over the years, by and large had good reports but the problem can remain inside local homes. And, also, many local homes depend on private wells not public water supplies.

As the EPA points out, since you can’t see, taste, or smell lead dissolved in water, testing is the only way of knowing if there are harmful quantities of it in your water. We urge residents to spend the estimated $20 to $100 the EPA says it costs to test your water for lead. If levels are high, filters designed to reduce lead may be installed, pipes may be lined, or fixtures may be replaced.

In the meantime, we urge our readers to take simple, everyday steps to reduce exposure to lead in their home water. Only cold water should be used for cooking or drinking. “Hot water is likely to contain higher levels of lead,” says the EPA.

Also, pipes should be flushed before drinking. “The more time water has been sitting in your home’s pipes, the more lead it may contain,” says the EPA. If a tap has not been used for more than six hours, this could be from five seconds to two minutes — until the water becomes as cold as it can get.”

It’s wise to take those extra seconds to keep your child safe.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer