UPDATE: Hamilton County Schools' Summer 2022 water testing results

HCS says to safeguard the health of students and staff, HCS has conducted ongoing sampling, testing, and reporting for lead in drinking water across all its schools for the past two years. In terms of allowable lead limits and schools being tested, HCS has adopted guidelines that go beyond the law’s requirements.

According to state law, if a water sample tests at or above 20 parts per billion (ppb), the school shall immediately remove the drinking water source from service.

Hamilton County Schools states it has adopted a stricter standard of 15 ppb to immediately remove the drinking water source from service until corrective action can be taken.

HCS reported that it has sampled all schools, even though only buildings built prior to 1998 are required by state law.

In 2020, HCS began testing water outlets at our schools for lead as part of a new regulation in Tennessee for schools built prior to 1998. During Summer 2020, samples were collected from over 2,000 different water outlets at 53 schools. During Summer 2021, over 1,000 additional samples were collected as part of a voluntary effort at schools built in 1998 or later.

In 2022, HCS says it was working to retest all schools built prior to 1998 that were originally tested in 2020 (now 52 schools as Harrison Elementary was reestablished in a new building in 2021).

Samples from 24 schools were collected over spring break, and the remaining pre-1998 schools will be sampled during the summer.

Out of 760 samples recently collected at the 24 schools, six (0.8%) samples included lead at a concentration at or greater than the state’s limit of 20 ppb. Three others tested at or above the HCS limit of 15 ppb, but less than 20 ppb.

Each of these nine water outlets were immediately removed from use, and remediation work and retesting will be performed as soon as possible. Each of the nine affected fixtures is in a different facility.

Hamilton County Schools says there are no concerns with the overall quality or safety of drinking water at any of the tested facilities.

“Hamilton County Schools is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for our students and staff,” said HCS Chief Operations Officer Dr. Robert Sharpe. “As a part of that commitment, we have held ourselves to stricter water testing standards than those required by the state, and we have worked to be transparent about our test results to school families and our community. Today’s release of our most recent test results is the latest step in that process.”

Families of students at the 24 tested schools will receive an email notification detailing the results at their schools.