Letter to Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency - Testing for Source of Water Contamination in Ithaca
Letter
Dear Administrator McCarthy:
Following the recent discovery of unacceptably high levels of lead in the drinking water of several of its schools, I write to urge the U.S. Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) to use its technical expertise to quickly assist the community of Ithaca, New York in testing their water for lead contamination. I also urge the EPA to assist Ithaca in defining the scope and source of this lead contamination, and to help them devise a plan to eradicate it.
In light of recent news that the community has found elevated levels of lead in more than 50 samples taken at the Caroline Elementary School and 11 samples taken at the Enfield Elementary School, it is critical that the EPA use their experience and resources to expeditiously help the community test all of the water in order to help identify the extent of the contamination and track its source.
As you know, elevated levels of lead in drinking water can have a detrimental effect on the health of the community, and especially on children who are more vulnerable to the damaging impacts of lead poisoning. Recently, the Ithaca City School District reported that there were more than 60 samples that tested above the EPA recommended lead levels of 15 parts per billion (PPB) during their contracted water testing which was completed in August of 2015.
This high level of contamination must be remediated as soon as possible in order to ensure the health and safety of our children, teachers and all in the school community. With the EPA's technical expertise and experience in dealing with lead contamination -- and in particular, lead contamination in school -- I request that you immediately provide technical support to help the community investigate the full scope of the problem and assist with subsequent remediation as quickly as possible.
Protecting the health of our children and school employees and ensuring the water they drink while attending school is safe is of the utmost importance. Considering the high number of water sources that tested above the recommended levels for lead, I urge you to send resources quickly to help the community investigate and come up with solutions to solve this problem.
Again, I thank you for your work in protecting our nation's health and the quality of our drinking water. Thank you for your attention to this important request.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
United States Senator
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