This is the fourth in our 2025 “Health Matters” series focused on health topics in South Snohomish County and sponsored by the Verdant Health Commission. Read past articles in this series here.
How lead can end up in your glass – and what you can do about it
As the Edmonds School District opened its doors to students last week, multiple water fountains and sinks were still out of use.
That’s because these water sources tested above state standards for lead earlier this year. At numerous locations throughout the area, measurements were dozens of times higher than the level permitted in public schools, or 5 parts per billion (ppb).
“Even very small increases in blood lead levels can result in serious harm,” said Dr. Bruce Lanphear, a professor at Simon Fraser University, who researches lead poisoning and early childhood health. “We should be treating water lead levels above 5 ppb as an urgent problem that needs to be dealt with.”
The Edmonds School District is following state health guidance and replacing plumbing and faucet parts in the locations that exceeded the standard. But that may not be enough to ensure lead-free water, national lead experts say. That’s because simply fixing one component in complex piping can lead to a “whack a mole” approach, leaving the door open for future exposure.
“Exposure to lead in drinking water, especially when it appears in the form of lead particles, is a bit like a game of Russian roulette: you turn on the tap once and you might or might not be exposed,” said Yanna Lambrinidou, a faculty member at Virginia Tech and the cofounder of The Campaign for Lead Free Water. “You look at the assurances we deliver to schools, communities, or water utility service areas based on 1-2 samples, and right then you know we’ve departed from scientific thinking.”
What’s happening locally
As part of a new state law, all public K-12 schools built before 2016 must test school water sources for lead. Water sources with lead readings above 5 ppb require corrective action. Locations with readings over 15 ppb were shut down immediately, and won’t reopen until they meet the standard.
The Edmonds School District is still in the process of testing all schools and replacing components in places that showed elevated lead levels, said spokesman Curtis Campbell. Over the summer, the district received a $160,000 grant from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to help cover the costs.
At least one water source will require remediation at all of the schools tested, according to the published results. So far, the highest readings came from Sherwood Elementary, where a sink in a kindergarten classroom measured 323 ppb. That’s followed by Hilltop Elementary, where one location came in at 285 ppb. Both of those are more than 50 times the amount permitted in public schools. Many other schools also had water sources with levels multiple times the school standard, including Edmonds Elementary, Brier Elementary and Alderwood Early Childhood Center.
Why lead in water matters
Lead that’s in liquid such as blood and water is measured in parts per billion. The amounts may sound miniscule – imagine a spoonful of sugar dissolved in an Olympic-size pool – but its existence is still impactful. That’s because the toxic metal is biologically active, meaning it can interfere with a human’s biological functions, even at extremely low levels, said Lanphear, the professor and physician.
There is no safe level of lead exposure, he said, adding “we shouldn’t be drinking a poison.” In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that water in school drinking fountains does not exceed 1 ppb. The current EPA standard that allows 15 ppb in public drinking water was never intended to be a health-based standard; it was simply a number that was feasible to achieve, he noted.
After consuming lead orally, the substance is absorbed into the intestines and then the blood. From there, it will circulate in the blood until it’s released through urine or sweat or picked up and incorporated in the bone. There, can be stored for decades – unless disrupted by an event like a fracture or bone loss.
Public health experts generally point to a higher risk of lead exposure for young children. That’s because toddlers and infants tend to absorb the lead they ingest more readily. It’s unclear how long it takes for the lead to leave the blood in children, though the half-life is about 30 days for adults. A blood test today, for example, would offer a reasonable indicator of exposure over the past days and even weeks – but not necessarily months or years prior.
Following the local school results, some parents got their children’s blood tested for lead, according to several families interviewed by My Neighborhood News Network. They did not find any concerning results. The school district confirmed that no one had reported elevated blood lead levels after the announcement.
Small levels can have major health consequences
Drinking water can make up 20% or more of someone’s total exposure to lead, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Those figures can be even higher for infants who consume formula that’s mixed with contaminated drinking water.
Even small increases in someone’s blood lead levels can have health consequences, Lanphear said. He worked on research that found just a 10 ppb increase in blood lead concentrations in pregnant women led to a 50% increase in premature birth. In women who are vitamin D deficient, those figures were much higher.
“This small increase could result from drinking water with lead levels in the range mentioned in your article,” he noted, referring to My Neighborhood News Network’s earlier coverage of Sherwood’s 323 ppb level.
For young children, numerous studies have connected lead exposure with increased risk for IQ decline, attention struggles, and behavior challenges. Adults aren’t immune to the health impacts, either. Chronic exposures to low levels of lead is a causal risk factor for cardiovascular disease, especially heart attacks and strokes, according to a 2023 American Heart Association scientific statement.
Determining the precise impact of lead exposure on an individual can be tricky. The effects of low doses of toxic metals like lead can be subtle. Plus, it’s hard to isolate the impact of the lead exposure from other environmental sources or simply one’s genetic predispositions. One might think a child was just born with mild behavior challenges, or simply doesn’t perform well on standardized tests – even though environmental exposures may have contributed.
Where these small shifts may be more evident, though, is on a societal scale, Lanphear explained. Across a population, even a 3 IQ point decline matters. Imagine the inverted bell curve that reflects IQ distribution, with the left side reflecting lower scores and the right higher. As the IQ curve shifts slightly to the left, more children are classified as having an intellectual disability.
How does lead get into the water?
As the district worked to address those improvements over the summer, the Olympic View
Water & Sewer District released its 2025 water quality report analyzing the water that fills many community homes. That report offered good news when it comes to lead and other harmful substances—with all 30 samples measuring lead levels at 0 ppb.
Olympic View does not have any lead pipes or service lines, which means that lead found in drinking water is primarily from other materials and components in household plumbing, the report noted.
Unlike the East Coast, the Pacific Northwest doesn’t have the same history of using lead pipes in water systems, said Gregory Vladimir Korshin, a professor in University of Washington’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Plus, the lead connectors that were once used to transport water have mostly been removed. That means lead is generally coming from fixtures like older faucets and lead solder used within an individual home or building. Before a 1986 ban, lead solder was often used to join copper plumbing. Another potential source of lead is corrosion scales that accumulate inside old galvanized pipe commonly used in old buildings.
“Compared to lead pipes, these aren’t major sources but they can still be a source,” Korshin said.
Buildings can often contain a complex medley of new and old piping, and it’s not unusual to have different lead testing results depending upon the conditions when sampled – especially when the water has been stagnating as required by government testing standards, he said.
It’s not surprising that there may be some lead after water sits for a while in plumbing that contains the substance, but 323 ppb – the amount found in one Sherwood Elementary faucet—is definitely unacceptable, he said.
What can you do about lead?
Chronic exposure is likely much more harmful than high-but-short-lived exposure, Lanphear said. That’s why eliminating the exposure from a particular source can make a big difference.
“The way lead works is more like a constant wear and tear on the body over years,” he said.
While not a solution, a healthy diet that includes calcium, iron and Vitamin C can be helpful in reducing lead absorption. Using only cold water and flushing water before use are also important strategies when drinking tap water.
Raising public awareness matters, too, especially in an environment where the dangers are too often dismissed, Lambrinidou said. She especially notices how public health officials often downplay the impact of lead in drinking water compared to lead paint found in paint chips or dust.
“That has left many people in this country needlessly misinformed about lead in drinking water and inadequately protected from a contaminant that’s relatively easy to reduce significantly, if not eliminate,” she said.
The common practice of testing the water by taking one to two samples and, if they measure at 0 ppb, assuming it’s safe, is faulty, she added. Lead tends to leach from plumbing in highly erratic and variable ways. If you turn on a tap 10 different times, fill up a glass and then measure the lead content, the results can be dramatically different – from zero to tens, hundreds and thousands of ppb, she said. That approach presumes that the only source of lead has been identified – and that there is no other source of lead, something she calls, “a pretty unsafe presumption.”
As long as there’s still lead-based plumbing anywhere in a building, there’s a risk for lead contamination in the water. These small plumbing parts can be present in old and new buildings alike. She encourages a shift in perception: Assume there’s lead in the water, and protect yourself.
That’s why she prefers the approach she helped create in places like Washington, D.C.: Point-of-use filtration. These lead-certified filters are either installed right onto the faucet where the water exits or via countertop ones in which water is poured through. These Filter First regulations take away the “whack a mole approach” of testing, fixing and testing again, she said.
For now, though, the Edmonds School District is following the State Department of Health guidelines. That means replacing parts and fixtures on water sources that tested above 5 ppb. After that, those outlets will be retested before they’re put back into service. For ones that still fail after replacing parts, the district may consider other options such as filters, Campbell said.
The district expects the fixtures will be cleared for use sometimes in October or November. After that, the Department of Health will require retesting every five years.
How to reduce lead in drinking water
- Filter correctly: If you use a filter, make sure you’re using one that can remove lead. For more information, check out this EPA guide. Be sure to change filters as needed after they’re expired.
- Use cold water for drinking, cooking and making baby formula.
- Clean your aerator, or faucet screen. That way, you can remove any lead particles that can collect there and get into the water.
- Run your water. Before drinking water, flush the pipes by running the tap.
- Test your water: If you’re concerned about lead in the water, consider testing it at the point it exits the tap.
— Source: EPA
Edmonds School District sites that will be tested before December include:
- Former Alderwood Middle/Oak Heights Elementary
- Meadowdale Elementary
- Brier Terrace Middle
- College Place Middle
- Meadowdale Middle
- Edmonds-Woodway High
- Lynnwood High
- Meadowdale High
- Mountlake Terrace High
- Woodway Campus
Schools exempt from testing because they are newer or were tested and remediated within the past five years:
- Beverly Elementary
- Lyndale Elementary
- Lynnwood Elementary
- Madrona K-8
- Mountlake Terrace Elementary
- Spruce Elementary
- Woodway Elementary
- Alderwood Middle
Kellie Schmitt is an award-winning health reporter based in Edmonds. She covers health policy, public health and children’s health for a variety of publications including the Johns Hopkins University Public Health Magazine, ParentMap, and USC’s Center for Health Journalism. She has a master’s in science writing from Johns Hopkins University.
This series is supported by funding from the Verdant Health Commission. The My Neighborhood News Network maintains full editorial control over content produced as part of this series.
