Since the Environmental Protection Agency announced the presence of dangerous levels of lead in the District last month, Washington has been buzzing with anger and fear as people worry about the safety of their drinking water. Many criticize the EPA’s testing standards, while others have blamed city officials for failing to foresee the potential lead problem and deal with it accordingly.
Regardless of who is at fault for the present situation, Georgetown University has an obligation to keep its student body informed as to whether this crisis has affected the campus water supply. While the University may have done an excellent job testing campus pipes and facets, officials have failed to send a campus-wide e-mail regarding the safety of the water. University administrators must be more forthcoming with information about potential health hazards to students.
Several weeks ago, environmental experts confirmed that in many area homes, lead concentrations from facets far exceeded the levels designated as safe by the EPA. Representatives from the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority claim that the addition of a water purification chemical called chloramine by the city in 2000 is responsible for the rise in lead levels.
According to Georgetown University Director of Safety and Environmental Management Phil Hagan, Georgetown began systematically testing all on-campus water sources the first Monday after the lead crisis came out into the open. Only one water fountain on campus had elevated levels of lead, and Facilities immediately removed and replaced the faulty water source. The University is still waiting for updated test results on the fountain, as well as primary tests for many off-campus sites, which are expected to come in over the next several weeks.
The University should be commended for immediately beginning water testing on campus, and the Georgetown community could have breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the water is safe weeks ago-if people knew about the University’s lead test. However, with the exception of an article in the March 15 issue of Blue and Gray, University administrators have kept completely silent about potential lead problems.
Considering that the student body receives seemingly endless University e-mails about terrorism and muggings, the fact that not a single e-mail went out about the safety of our water is astounding. If the University is going to tell us about vague potential threats to our safety whenever they crop up, then they should certainly inform us about a more certain danger facing our community and city.
