Drinking water at SAWS treatment plant had lead level 88x EPA limit

SAWS offers blood testing to 27 employees who repeatedly accessed building

SAN ANTONIO – Records released by the San Antonio Water System show drinking water inside a building at its Dos Rios Water Recycling Center repeatedly had lead levels higher than allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The results of the water tests conducted inside Building 17 at the major sewage treatment center for San Antonio in July and August were released to the KSAT 12 Defenders this month following an open records request.

One test, conducted July 11, after a SAWS safety representative noticed that the water in a drinking fountain was cloudy, revealed a lead level of 1,330 parts per billion, more than 88 times greater than the EPA's action level.

"We saw that there was a level that was unacceptable, and we immediately went in to do something to change it," said SAWS communications manager Anne Hayden, who repeatedly said the incident did not affect the public's water or even the entire Dos Rios property and was isolated to two of the water fountains in the building. 

Hayden said a sign was immediately put up alerting employees not to use the fountains and that, eventually, 27 employees were offered blood testing to check for lead levels.

A follow-up water test on a fountain on Aug. 9 produced a result of 939 ppb and a second fountain tested that day also had a high reading, according to SAWS records.

On Aug. 13, one fountain had a lead level right at the EPA action limit while the other had a level of 106 ppb.

On Aug. 17, water from one of the fountains came back with a level of 199 ppb.

Additionally, a water fountain supply line had a level of 68 ppb during testing on Aug. 22.

Hayden said both fountains, supply lines and plumbing were taken out and replaced by a single water fountain.

She said a third water fountain in an employee break area was also removed and replaced as a precaution.

Officials said the lead may have come from soldered joints and possibly from lead parts in the drinking fountains.

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KSAT 12 reviewed the results Oct. 1 with five SAWS officials at the utility's headquarters.

Officials said Building 17 is not widely used and that crews checking in and out of it each day typically used an outdoor water spigot to fill up water bottles instead of using the fountains inside.

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Still, a swipe test revealed that 27 SAWS employees had accessed the building 100 or more times.

Hayden said that, as of last week, 19 of the employees have gone through blood testing.

None of the blood test results reported back to SAWS have shown elevated levels of lead, according to Hayden.

Hayden said the utility may not find out the results for all 27 employees since some opted for testing through private physicians and are not required by law to share the results with SAWS, and some may choose not to get tested.

"You sound like what a lot of the water filter commercials are like."

Hayden's stance on acceptable levels of lead in drinking water differs greatly than that of Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the Flint pediatrician credited three years ago with exposing that city's water crisis.

"There's many questions and confusion about what is a safe amount of lead in water. It's zero," said Hanna-Attisha, who was briefed on the water testing results at Dos Rios and answered questions about the lead levels during an interview with KSAT's sister station, WDIV in Detroit.

"Those levels are super high. They need to be addressed. They need to be addressed and your goal should be to get them down to zero," said Hanna-Attisha.

She said nonuse is a huge contributing factor to high lead levels, since drinking water sitting in pipes has more contact with lead in plumbing. That's a possible scenario at Dos Rios, where SAWS officials said, the fountains were infrequently used.

"I think it instills a lot of fear when you hear quotes about any amount is dangerous. That's not the case," said Hayden, who added that 1 ppb is a drop in an Olympic-sized pool.

"You sound like what a lot of the water filter commercials are like," she added, when responding to a question from the Defenders about whether its dangerous to have long-term exposure to drinking water with a lead level as low as 5 ppb, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's limit for bottled water and a level some experts say is dangerous over long periods of time.

Hayden described the Flint water crisis, which arose after officials there decided to switch the city's water source to the Flint River, as an entirely different situation than what happened at Dos Rios.

"We have a lot of very experienced people who work with us daily. And we live here, our children live here and we certainly care about what's going on," said Hayden.

SAWS has expanded water testing to some of its other facilities and, so far, has not found any other elevated lead levels in the drinking water, Hayden said.

 

 


About the Author:

Emmy-award winning reporter Dillon Collier joined KSAT Investigates in September 2016. Dillon's investigative stories air weeknights on the Nightbeat and on the Six O'Clock News. Dillon is a two-time Houston Press Club Journalist of the Year and a Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Reporter of the Year.