Yukon Education Department didn't test school water for lead over the summer as promised

The Yukon Education Department did not test all school water fixtures for lead over the summer as it promised, with the new deadline for the work now set for the end of the year.

Department officials, in May, pledged to do the testing and replace any fixtures that did not meet current drinking water standards within two to three months after two Faro students doing a science fair project discovered that their school's water contained an elevated level of lead.

However, in an emailed statement to CBC News this month, department spokesperson Michael Edwards said the "initial project timeline did not adequately account for the complexity and scope of the work ahead."

"Key factors, such as the time required to identify human resources, acquire essential materials, navigate the logistical challenges of various school locations, and determining the optimal timing for water testing, were underestimated," Edwards wrote.

"This necessitated a revised schedule to align with more realistic time frames and resource availability."

The department would not provide anyone for an interview.

The work is now anticipated to be finished by the end of December.

A tender for the water sampling work only closed last week.

In the meantime, Edwards said that every school in the territory has at least one drinking water source or, for larger schools, one source per hundred students that meets Canadian drinking water guidelines, though Faro's Del Van Gorder School and Mayo's J.V. Clark School are receiving bottled water due to the location of the guideline-compliant fixtures in the buildings.

Drinking water can be contaminated by lead via lead-containing fixtures or solder, an issue particularly prevalent in buildings built before 1990. The department last comprehensively tested school water fixtures for lead in 2018 and 2019, replacing any that didn't meet the drinking water guideline at the time. It reviewed those results this spring after the Faro students' findings and discovered that water from a number of fixtures did not meet the updated, present-day standard.

While the Yukon's Chief Medical Officer of Health has stated that there are no immediate health risks to consuming water with slightly elevated lead concentrations, the department instructed schools to stop using fountains and sinks that don't meet the current guideline.

Signs are in place over compliant fixtures identifying them as appropriate drinking water sources, Edwards wrote. He also said the department was able to do limited testing over the summer, including of fixtures at Elijah Smith Elementary School and F.H. Collins Secondary School that were not clearly identified in the 2018 and 2019 test results and all water bottle filling stations at all schools except in Old Crow.

Fixtures at Centre scolaire secondaire communautaire Paul-mile Mercier and Whistle Bend Elementary School were fully tested as the schools were both built after 2019.

Edwards also wrote that the Yukon government was developing a long-term monitoring program to regularly test school drinking water.

'Very unfortunate and frustrating'

At least one Yukon school council wasn't informed that the department hadn't completed testing and replacement work over the summer until CBC News contacted it for comment for this story.

In an unsigned email, the Selkirk School Council wrote that it was "disappointed to convene after the summer break to learn that the situation is not fully resolved," and that it "remains an uneasy situation for our students, parents, teachers, and administration, especially since there has been no new water testing since 2018."

"We still encourage parents to send water from home with their child until the Department of Education tests all drinking water sources and confirms the water is safe and meets national drinking water guidelines," the email said.

The Yukon's opposition parties also expressed disappointment, with Yukon Party MLA and Highways and Public Works critic Stacey Hassard calling the situation "very unfortunate and frustrating."

"It's great that they're finally going to do it, but the frustrating part is the lack of urgency I mean, this is very important work that needs to be done," Hassard said, adding that summer testing and repairs would have been "ideal" since students would have been away.

Yukon NDP leader Kate White, meanwhile, said the government should have kept the public informed about the status of the project.

"Had they honestly communicated that it was taking longer than they had anticipated, I think I would feel fine, I think I'd be like, 'OK, well, that's not ideal, but I understand where we're at,'" she said.

"But instead they chose not to communicate it publicly and nowit's of course been discovered, which nowmeans I'll be asking questions about it in the assembly."