Charleston testing water at all schools for lead

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - One of South Carolina’s largest school districts is testing the water in each of its schools for lead.

The Charleston County District is nearly finished testing the 40 schools officials were most concerned about and will finish testing the other 40 or so schools by February, said Ron Kramps, the district’s associate of facilities management.

So far, 98% of the tests have come back fine, and the fixtures that didn’t pass the test have been replaced, Kramps told The Post and Courier of Charleston.

“We’re pleased with what we found, but we had to make sure we had to get out there and take a look and make sure because we take it really seriously,” Kramps said.

The testing costs about $300,000, Kramps said.

The district knows the groundwater it uses does not have lead, but they wanted to make sure lead wasn’t getting into drinking water from old pipes.