Valley Stream district: Lead found in school drinking fountains

Four drinking fountains at a Valley Stream elementary school will be repaired after failing to meet minimum federal standards for lead in drinking water, the school district said.

In a letter to district residents, Constance Evelyn, superintendent for Valley Stream school district 13, said fountains at Wheeler Avenue Elementary School have been turned off after getting results from tests conducted during spring recess at all four of the district’s schools.

The dry fountains include four that failed to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s minimum standards for lead and others that were to be tested, the May 3 letter said.

Fountains at the district’s three other schools met the EPA standards, according to the letter.

Wheeler Elementary is the only school that requires further testing, the letter said. Fountains that remain in operation are being flushed each morning, a procedure outlined by the EPA to “remediate this problem,” the letter said.