HALIFAX -- Starting next month, the Nova Scotia government will provide drinking water to 324 public schools across the province, due to concerns about lead in the water.
The province says this includes 284 schools that haven’t yet been tested for lead, as well as 40 schools that have been tested and require drinking water.
So far, 86 of the province’s 370 public schools have been tested for lead. The remaining 46 schools do not require outside drinking water.
Testing began in schools this fall and will resume in the spring, with a goal of having all schools tested by the end of the current school year.
The province says Health Canada recently lowered the acceptable level of lead in drinking water and introduced new testing guidelines. The guidelines indicate the tests can only be conducted in warmer weather, which is why testing has been paused until the spring.
"We don't want families to worry about the quality of drinking water in their schools," said Education Minister Zach Churchill in a statement. “Until we can resume testing in the spring, we will provide drinking water to schools that need it."
It will cost the province $1.7 million to provide drinking water to 324 schools until the end of the current school year.
Meanwhile, the province is creating a public database that will house all water test results from all schools in Nova Scotia. The database is expected to be in place by September.
The decision to provide drinking water comes after an investigation by journalists on lead contamination in water at Nova Scotia schools.
