The Poughkeepsie Journal reports that the IBM Corp. Campus in Wiccopee is dealing with lead contamination in the drinking water. The lead in the drinking water is likely coming from old pipes.

The Poughkeepsie water treatment plant adds chloramines to the water, and scientific evidence shows that chloramines can accelerate the leaching of lead from pipes. Many water treatment plants across the country have begun using chloramines (chlorine combined with ammonia) as the primary disinfectant (as opposed to chlorine). Chloramines offer some advantages over chlorine, but both chlorine and chloramines in drinking water may cause serious health problems. For instance, chlorinated water is linked with increased cancer risk. Chloramines have also been associated with skin rashes and lung irritation.

Professor Marc Edwards of Virginia Polytechnic University has found that lead contamination rises after water treatment plants begin using chloramines. He explains that chloramines release ammonia, which provides food for certain types of bacteria that produce acid, which makes the water more corrosive of lead in pipes.

Lead contamination in drinking water can make people sick and interfere with mental development. For now, IBM is providing bottled water for their employees. I think it’s time for IBM to invest in eco-friendly bottle-less water coolers for their employees. These coolers have built-in filters to remove contaminants like lead.

The Charleston Daily Mail reports that an Associated Press investigation found contaminants in school water supplies at public and private schools in all 50 states. The study found unsafe levels of lead, pesticides, and other toxins.

“It’s an outrage,” said Marc Edwards, water quality expert at Virginia Tech. “If a landlord doesn’t tell a tenant about lead paint in an apartment, he can go to jail. But we have no system to make people follow the rules to keep school children safe?”

Schools with well water have the worst contamination. According to EPA data, roughly 1 in 5 schools with their own water supply have violated the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The Associated Press of EPA data found:

• Water in 2,250 schools across the nation breached federal safety standards.
• Those schools had more than 5,550 separate violations.
• In 2008, the EPA recorded 577 violations – up from 59 in 1998.
• California, which has the most schools of any state, also recorded the most violations with 612, followed by Ohio (451), Maine (417), Connecticut (318), and Indiana (289).
• Nearly half the violators in California were repeat offenders. One elementary school in Tulare County, in the farm country of the Central Valley, broke safe water laws in 20 instances.
• The most frequently cited contaminants were coliform bacteria, lead, copper, arsenic, and nitrates.

Dr. Gina Solomon, a San Francisco physician who serves on an EPA drinking water advisory board, said, “This tells me there is a widespread problem that needs to be fixed because there are ongoing water quality problems in small and large utilities as well.”

It’s not just the water in schools that is contaminated. Water in homes and offices is contaminated, too. But children are more sensitive to the effects of contaminants. Toxic chemicals in water can alter their development.

Many parents have started sending their children to school with their own non-toxic, reusable stainless steel water bottles so that they don’t have to drink from school fountains.

To keep your children safe, invest in a home water filter, and bottle your children’s water at home.