lead and copper in the water creating a
potential danger in Detroit Public
Schools but what about the water in your
own home is that safe since the test
results were revealed in the Detroit
School District many living nearby have
worried could the water problem be
citywide and now help me Hank and a team
of experts tested water around five
schools in Detroit Academy of America's
Marcus Garvey Coleman Young Bates
Academy and Cass Tech High School the
results were pretty surprising consumer
investigator Hank Winchester is live and
Hank it's no wonder so many people are
concerned yeah absolutely I mean you
understand why they are so worried
Academy of the Americas one of the
schools that tested high it's right here
over my shoulder but just the block away
there's a full neighborhood filled with
homes with kids with people who wondered
is the water in my neighborhood safe if
the school has a lead issue well tonight
we take a close look at those numbers
water it's something we all need to
survive but after Flint we learned it
can sometimes be a danger in Detroit
lead tainted water in some schools
making headlines out of an abundance of
caution and not needing in my opinion to
wait for the test results of the other
schools we made a decision to turn off
the drinking water in all of our schools
and move the water bottles and water
coolers many schools with high lead and
copper levels in Detroit not just in old
buildings either the Newark a stack
reported lead issues which had many
wondering maybe it's not just the
schools could this be widespread but
Gary brown with DWS D firmly believes
the water in Detroit is safe now
everybody's thinking this is Flint in
the Detroit Public School
nothing could be further from the
Detroit residents should not be
concerned at all working with water
testing experts bright and analytical we
went door-to-door in neighborhoods near
schools where lead levels were extremely
high we asked for samples of the water
from homes and sent those samples to the
lab for testing
we focused our testing on area
surrounding five Detroit schools why
these schools well they had the most
elevated levels of copper and lead we
then tested four homes near each of
these schools why the school have a such
a big boy I'm gonna be proud with the
Harris family near Coleman Young
Elementary worried not only because
their grandchildren are dps students but
also because the water in the school
right across the street from their home
in apparent danger the little one up he
picked up he had to take water cuz he
said Papa I am thirsty and they give
them water but it might not be enough
for her we collected 20 samples all
together from different parts of the
city the testing took about two weeks to
complete it was extensive and the
results surprising the EPA ceiling for
lead and drinking water is 15 parts per
billion
but even five parts per billion could be
a concern in our testing only two homes
tested right at five parts per billion
the other 18 either not able to detect
lead at all or the levels were extremely
low copper levels across the board well
below the federal guidelines its relief
for the majority of those tested public
schools I'm hoping that they get the
same situation that I just like that
because they're there they're precious
and they need all they can get awesome
great great actually it sounded like a
really good idea what you guys were
doing but there were two homes on the
borderline testing at five parts per
billion
we shared the results with the
homeowners and recommended buying a
filter but for all of us this is the
best advice flush the tap every morning
by running cold water for one minute
before using this clears out water
that's been sitting in the pipes
overnight use only cold water for
drinking and cooking and if you can
afford it by a filter
most cost about $30 and likely need to
be replaced every three months the
effects of lead poisoning especially and
children can be devastating dr. mona
hanna-attisha who helped expose the
Flint water crisis thinks any amount of
lead in the water is a concern it is an
irreversible neurotoxin it impacts
children's cognition so how you think it
impacts IQ levels it impacts behavior so
leads to things like developmental
disabilities behavior problems ADHD
back out here live tonight at 11 o'clock
you're gonna hear from dr. mona
hanna-attisha the pediatrician in flint
who helped expose the big a lead issue
there in that community she has an
urgent warning for all parents regarding
water safety in schools across the state
of Michigan and she provides important
information that we all can use to make
sure the water in our own homes is in
fact safe we're live here tonight in
southwest Detroit Hank Winchester back
to you think before you go what does the
city think about the test results and
specifically those homes that had lead
levels that concern dr. Mona and
Kimberly we did talk with Gary Brown
about that he's gonna go in detail
tonight at 11 o'clock but briefly he
says he is pleased with the numbers that
were laid out here in Detroit they are
still well below the federal guidelines
for lead but you heard dr. mona say any
level of lead is a concern we'll have
much more for you tonight at 11 okay
we'll be looking forward to it Hank
thank you