By When a chemistry professor and a couple students tested campus water stations due to concerns over the water condition last year, Long Beach State found itself shutting off campus water fountains due to small traces of lead that were found.
According to the Daily 49er, then Vice President of Administration and Finance, Mary Stephens had expressed that “some of the fountains did not meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for drinkable water.”
With over 100 refill stations and general water fountains around campus, Tony Malagrino, associate vice president of Physical Planning and Facilities, said that last year’s lead scare had been a “PR nightmare.”
Malagrino said the school has always worked alongside the Long Beach Water Department to deliver the best quality water to the campus.
“It ended up being a positive exercise because we positively checked all of the water that makes its way to the buildings,” Malagrino said.
Director of Design and Construction Services, Mark Zakhour said he hopes students eventually become comfortable with the water systems on campus.
“It was the old drinking fountains that had a small trace amount of lead, but it was way below the EPA thresholds for anything that would cause any sort of concern,” Zakhour said.
While small traces of lead may have no impact, the EPA’s website does warn against drinking water contaminated water, as over time, it may cause damage to the kidneys or nervous system.
Maintenance of overall hydration stations is performed by Facilities Maintenance Manager Josh Cichuniec, who said hydration station filters are changed at least once a month or based on how often they’re used.
As part of a preventive measure, Cichuniec said maintenance of the hydration stations and water fountains are regularly scheduled at least once a month.
“We’ll check if it’s indicating that we need to change the filter [then] we’ll change it. It just depends on how often they’re used,” he said.
University spokesperson Jeff Bliss stated that virtually every building on campus has since been tested and assures that water on campus has been safe to drink since the resolution of last year’s ordeal.
Zakhour said the older fountains that were found to have traces of lead have been removed.
“We replaced all those old drinking fountains because people get really frightened of the word lead,” Zakhour said.
