Lead levels keep drinking fountains closed at RGC

The water fountains at the Rio Grande Campus, which have been off since Sept. 29 will be out of commission for the foreseeable future. The fountains will not be turned back on until the building is remodeled with new lead free plumbing.

According to Rebecca Cole, the executive director of environmental health, safety and insurance, the campus master planning committee will be submitting a timeline to the board of trustees for review sometime early next year. It will include costs and predictions on the amount of time it will take for construction and completion of remodeling.

"As of now, there is not a specific timeline for the remodeling of Rio Grande" said Alexis Patterson, ACC's media relations coordinator.

The problem with scheduling the remodeling is finding somewhere to put everyone at Rio Grande while it's closed for renovations, according to Patterson.

For now, ACC is supplying the campus with bottled water.

The estimated cost for supplying bottled water to the students and Simon's cafe is approximately $51,000 for the academic school year, according to Cole via e-mail.

Additional testing for lead on the Rio Grande Campus drinking fountains was done in Oct and those results will be posted on ACC's Environmental Health and Safety website in the next couple of weeks.

After the board of trustees approves a timeline, and the college comes up with a plan for the Rio Grande community, it will still be some time before the actual remodeling occurs.

According to Cole, the next step will be to get public approval for funding through bonds and other revenue sources.

Cole doesn't believe that the water at Rio Grande is very dangerous.

"The original testing of the water fountains revealed a level of lead well below the action level required by the EPA." said Cole

"However, because it was slightly above the level of "no known risk," the college moved forward with shutting down the water fountains as a precaution, particularly for high-risk groups such as children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems. We take a conservative approach where matters of health and safety are concerned."

Editor's note: Rebecca Cole's is the executive director of environmental health, safety and insurance.