All posts by Zachary

Participatory Culture, Politics

Lead Sampling (Testing) Program for (Indiana) Public Schools

(This is a work in progress. Please excuse the brevity, typos.)

Here is the folder that contains all of the letters I have received from the Indiana Finance Authority.

These letters include the actual parts per billion (ppb) levels found at each site within a school. The IFA is releasing 50 of these letters per week, with a total of 1000+ letters.

The original report from the IFA only mentions if a particular school’s test results show one or more locations above the 15 ppb, not the actual lead levels for each school.

IFA’s Lead Sampling Program For Public Schools (official site)

The Indiana Finance Authority (“IFA”), with assistance from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (“IDEM”), has developed the Lead Sampling Program for Public Schools to help schools assess if there is a presence of lead in drinking water within their facilities.

In the FAQ, you find this entry:

What is considered an elevated lead level in a school’s drinking water?

In Indiana, an elevated lead level is a reading that meets or exceeds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “action level” of 15 parts per billion (ppb). The action level of 15 ppb is not a measure of health effects. It serves as a signal to the school to take steps to reduce the lead concentration in the water.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (a group within the CDC):

The EPA Lead and Copper Rule has set drinking water standards with two levels of protection [EPA 1991; EPA 2000b].

Action levels for lead of 15 ppb and copper of 1.3 ppm in more than 10% of customer taps sampled. An action level is the level for enforcement.

The maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG) is zero. This is the level determined to be safe according to toxicological and biomedical considerations, independent of feasibility.

“If a water system, after installing and optimizing corrosion control treatment, continues to fail to meet the lead action level, it must begin replacing the lead service lines under its ownership” [EPA 2007].

Exceeding the action level alone is not a violation of the regulation. Public water systems are assigned a violation when they fail to perform actions required by the regulations. This happens after the action level is exceeded [EPA 2000b; EPA 2016b].

The use of lead solder and other lead-containing materials in connecting household plumbing to public water supplies was banned by EPA in June of 1988.

Many older structures, however, still have lead pipe or lead-soldered plumbing internally, which may substantially increase the lead content of water at the tap.

Regulations controlling the lead content of drinking water coolers in schools went into effect in 1989.

For comparison, during the Flint Water Crisis, some areas were testing 100+ ppb for lead. From the records released so far, the highest has been 200+ in Columbus, Indiana for Parkside Elementary:

As of July 30th, Lafayette School Corporation and West Lafayette School Corporation have not tested their water. Tippecanoe School Corporation has participated in the program and several schools have tested above the 15 ppb:

If you follow-up in your own community, please share your story.

Politics

New City Hall in store for citizens of West Lafayette

UPDATE 2017-12-08: From a reliable source, there are community meetings planned for February of 2018 regarding the new City Hall.

UPDATE 2017-11-20: Here is the Axis Architecture + Interiors feasibility study I received from Chandler Poole back in 2013.

Discussion is starting about building a new City Hall. This fall’s viability study will help us define: 1) what it should include, 2) where to put it, and 3) affordability. One of the most critical components is having my department heads under one roof again. Although the Morton Center has served us as a stopgap measure, the 89-yearold building is somewhat dysfunctional for hosting meetings because of aging sound systems, acoustics, seating, and lack of appropriate security. In our public meetings, we want your input on what features are important to you as well as suggestions about where to place City Hall. Both viability studies will be completed by next spring. Construction wouldn’t start until 2019 at the earliest. – from Mayor Dennis in the 2017 West Lafayette Connection Newsletter

Now is the time to contact the Mayor[1], on the record, about what you want to see for City Hall in West Lafayette.  Compounded by the possible construction of a new Recreation and Aquatic Center, the future of Morton is unknown.

I am trying to see if I received the feasibility study from the former Director of Development, Chandler Poole, back in 2013, before the Dennis Administration moved Development, Engineering, and the Mayor’s Office into Morton.  If I have it in my archives, I will post a link here.

Where do you want to see the new West Lafayette City Hall?  What functions do you want it to serve?  Don’t be shy.  Share your thoughts.

Email: mayor@wl.in.gov
Phone: (765) 775-5103
Formal Ticketing System Action Center
Politics

First 100 Days Madlibs for your Thanksgiving Gathering

In preparation for the Thanksgiving festivities this week, I decided to create a little Madlib game for those who will be attending.  This is the first crack the concept.  More to come from Trump’s First 100 Days.  I hope to include other presidents as well.

The first, First 100 Days, were with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Trump 2016

FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to [verb] [plural noun] on all members of [noun].

SECOND, a [verb -ing] freeze on all federal employees to [verb] federal [noun] through attrition (exempting [noun], [noun], and [noun]);

THIRD, a requirement that for every [adjective] federal regulation, [number] existing regulations must be [verb -ed];

FOURTH, a [number] year-ban on White House and Congressional [noun -s] becoming [noun -s] after they [verb] government service;

FIFTH, a [span of time] ban on White House [noun -s] [verb -ing] on behalf of a foreign [noun];

SIXTH, a [adjective] ban on foreign [noun] [verb -ing] [noun] for American elections.

On the same day, I will begin taking the following [number] [noun -s] to protect American [noun -s]:

FIRST, I will announce my intention to [verb] NAFTA or withdraw from the [noun] under Article [legal number]

SECOND, I will announce our withdrawal from the [geographic region] Partnership

THIRD, I will [verb] my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency [noun]

FOURTH, I will direct the Secretary of [noun] and U.S. [noun] Representative to identify all foreign trading [noun -s] that unfairly [verb] American [noun -s] and direct them to use every [noun] under American and [geographic location] law to end those abuses within [span of time]

FIFTH, I will [verb] the restrictions on the production of $[number] trillion dollars’ worth of job-[verb] American energy reserves, including shale, [adjective] oil, [adjective] gas and [adjective] coal.

SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton-[government name] roadblocks and allow [adjective] energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone [noun], to move [direction]

SEVENTH, cancel [dollar amount] in payments to U.N. [noun about earth] change programs and [verb] the money to fix America’s [noun] and environmental infrastructure