To: Wellesley College Faculty, Staff, and On-Campus Students
From: Piper Orton, Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer, and Dave Chakraborty, Assistant Vice President of Facilities Management and Planning
Re: Important Update About Testing of Water on Campus
Date: November 17, 2020
As part of the College’s commitment to providing safe drinking water from the two wells located on campus, and in accordance with federal regulations, we regularly obtain water samples from buildings across campus, including residence halls, academic buildings, faculty housing, and child care facilities.
We wanted to share with you that a recent result from a routine test indicated that two locations out of the 10 that were tested had slightly elevated levels of lead. Immediately after receiving the test results, we requested a second test of these locations. After running the water in both locations, the second test came back negative. We believe there were elevated levels of lead in these areas because we have fewer people on campus regularly using water at these locations.
The two locations with elevated levels were a men’s bathroom on the first floor of Green Hall and a men’s bathroom on the first floor of Jewett. Water tested in residence halls, faculty housing, other academic buildings, the Child Study Center, and the Wellesley Community Children’s Center (WCCC) did not have elevated levels of lead.
The last time we had elevated levels of lead in any of the College’s water was 10 years ago. At that time, we implemented a plan to resolve the situation in accordance with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The College replaced fixtures in the locations where lead was found, maintained a raised pH of the water in an effort to keep lead that may be contained in solder joints and piping from leaching out into the water system, and increased testing of water sources on campus. We are taking similar steps this time as well.
We are planning to conduct additional testing at faculty residences that use the College’s water, and a campus-wide inventory of our fixtures is already underway. We also already conduct regular testing of the water at the Child Study Center and the WCCC.
We have posted notices and information about the elevated levels of lead and what individuals should do to reduce their exposure to lead in the two affected locations, and we have posted results in all of the areas tested. We will place additional signage by sinks across the campus to help educate our community about what to do, particularly now when our buildings are more lightly used than in a typical year.
You can take these easy steps to reduce your exposure to lead in water:
- Any time a faucet has been unused for more than six hours, let water run from the tap for at least 30 seconds before using it for drinking or cooking. For the first use of the day, in the morning, run the water for two to three minutes.
- Flushing the tap means running the cold-water faucet for about 15 to 30 seconds. Although toilet flushing or showering flushes water through a portion of the plumbing system, you still need to flush the water in each faucet before using it for drinking or cooking.
- Note that boiling water does not reduce lead levels, so be sure to flush with cold water only.
- Do not cook with, drink, or prepare baby formula from the hot water tap. Hot water can dissolve lead more quickly than cold water. If you need hot water, draw cold water from the tap and then heat it.
The community can access a number of resources for more information about lead in tap water from the EPA, the CDC, and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. Additional details are posted on Wellesley’s Facilities Management website.
For any questions related to the operation of Wellesley’s drinking water program, please contact Dave Chakraborty, assistant vice president of facilities management and planning. For any health-related concerns, contact Suzanne Howard, director of environmental health and safety
