March 2011 Frequently Asked Questions: Lead Testing Program O. Reg. 243/07 Here are Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Sampling Questions implementation of the schools, private schools and day nurseries lead testing regulatory program that have 1. I have just opened a school/private school/day been raised. They include Questions and Answers about nursery. When do I need to sample? sampling, flushing, record-keeping requirements and • Both brand new facilities and facilities that have relationships between co-located schools and day nurseries. previously operated but are moving to a new location must take samples within 30 days of These FAQs are not meant to be a comprehensive commencing operations at the new location. If description of the lead testing program. For more your facility begins operating between January 1 information go to Drinking Water Ontario or contact the and March 31, you must also take a second set Ministry of the Environment’s Public Information Centre at of samples between May 1 and October 31 in the 1-800-565-4923. same calendar year. To be clear about your specific requirements, you must refer 2. I have to take samples for the first time. What do to the text of the Schools, Private Schools and Day Nurseries I do? Regulation (O. Reg. 243/07) made under the Safe Drinking • Choose a laboratory that is licensed by the Water Act. You can access these at www.e-laws.gov.on.ca ministry to test for lead in drinking water. A list of or by calling the Public Information Centre at these labs is available on the ministry’s website at 1-800-565-4923. If you have any legal questions about www.ontario.ca/drinkingwater/271380.pdf. The the application or interpretation of the regulation or laboratory will send you bottles and instructions legislation, you should consult a lawyer. for taking samples. • Inform the ministry which laboratory you have chosen by submitting a Registration and Laboratory Services (LSN) form. • Take two cold, one-litre samples from a tap or fountain used to prepare food or drink for children in the facility or from a tap commonly used to provide drinking water for their consumption, and send them to the laboratory for lead testing. For step-by-step instructions please refer to guidance materials available at Drinking Water Ontario including how-to posters and videos. ontario.ca/drinkingwater BLEED PIBS 8211e 3. How can I qualify for reduced sampling? Can I get Flushing Questions there in one year? 1. Which taps or fountains do I have to flush? To qualify for reduced sampling (once every three years) the following has to be completed: All taps and drinking water fountains that are commonly • Test results for annual samples collected in the used to provide water for consumption by children previous 24 consecutive months have not exceeded under 18 years of age must be flushed. Commonly the prescribed drinking water quality standard for used taps include any fountain or cold-water tap that lead of 10 micrograms per litre (10 µg / L). children have access to, and may drink or fill water • Samples have been taken from every tap in your bottles from. Washroom taps must be included if school or day nursery that is used for preparing children can get a drink of cold water from them. food or drink for consumption by children. This Bradley sinks or other washroom taps that only includes any kitchen or classroom taps used to fill provide warm water are not required to be flushed. water bottles for children under 18 years of age. • Samples have been taken from at least one tap in 2. I have taken a set of samples for lead testing each every washroom or change room where children year for two years. Can I move to weekly flushing are allowed to fill their water bottles. if there was an exceedance in a standing sample, • You have submitted a Notice of Reduced Lead but my flushed samples were below the standard Sampling form to the ministry stating that these for lead? conditions have been met. The notice form is No, if any lead test result in the past 24 months was available at Drinking Water Ontario. above the standard, you must flush the plumbing • Note: You can take samples from multiple loca- every day the facility is open. In this case, the drop in tions in the same year, but you need to have test lead levels between the standing and flushed samples results for at least two consecutive years to move to indicates that flushing is effectively reducing lead reduced sampling. concentrations in your water to safe levels. 4. Once I have submitted my Notice of Reduced Lead 3. My day nursery opened in 2009, in a building that Sampling will the ministry send me anything to has plumbing older than 1990. Can I move to confirm that I’ve qualified? weekly flushing? No. When you submit this notice to the ministry, you Weekly flushing is permitted in facilities that have had will only be contacted if there is a question or concern good lead test results over at least a 24-month period. with the information you have provided. Make sure you Once you have taken annual samples for at least keep copies of the notice and your test results in case two years, and if no samples in those past 24 months an inspector asks to see them. exceeded the standard for lead, you may move to weekly flushing. Until then, you must continue to flush 5. If I have qualified for reduced sampling, what taps daily. and fountains do I have to sample from after three years? Records Questions You can sample from any tap or drinking fountain that is used to prepare food or drink for, or provide 1. What records do I need to keep on the premises? drinking water to, children in the facility. Under How long do I need to keep records? Can I keep reduced sampling, unless otherwise directed by the records electronically, or is a paper copy ministry, you are only required to sample from one tap required? every three years: you do not have to sample from all You must ensure that all test results, flushing and drinking water taps in the facility again. sampling records, any Notices of Lead Exceedance, and any ministry directions provided to you are available for review at your facility for at least two years. You may archive these records off-site after 2 | FAQ: Lead Testing Program O. Reg. 243/07 this, but you must still maintain them for at least six 2. I am co-located with another facility, but we do years. Electronic records in the form of spreadsheets, not share samples. If the other facility has an or paper records that have been scanned and saved to a exceedance, am I required to switch back to daily computer, are acceptable. flushing? If co-located facilities are not sharing samples, but You must also have a copy of O. Reg. 243/07 are sampling independently of each other, they rely (Schools, Private Schools and Day Nurseries) at on their own test results to determine what flushing the school or day nursery. and sampling rules apply to them. However, the ministry strongly recommends that when an operator 2. Do I have to submit my sampling results to the receives a Notice of Lead Exceedance in test results, ministry every year? that operator informs any co-located facilities in the No, apart the test results that exceed the chemical building of the result, even if each facility is sampling standards in Schedule 2 of O. Reg. 169/03, these reports independently. must be reported within 24 hours to the Medical Officer of Health, the ministry’s Spills Action Centre, Ministry If the ministry believes that changes in the water of Education if the report relates to a school or private chemistry in the drinking water supplied to a school, school, or Ministry of Children and Youth Services if it private school or day nursery may result in increased relates to a day nursery. You only have to submit non- lead levels in the water supplied to children in that exceeding test results or flushing and sampling records facility or any co-located facilities, the ministry has if the ministry makes a request for this information, for the authority to direct the operator of the facilities to instance during an inspection. However, these records revert to daily flushing, or annual sampling. must be made available to any member of the public upon request, for at least two years. Resources: Co-Location Questions For more information, please refer to O. Reg. 243/07, and to the ministry’s webpage on Information for Schools, 1. My day nursery is located in a school, but I have Private Schools, and Day Nurseries on Flushing and my own kitchen and washroom taps. Can I share Lead Testing at Drinking Water Ontario. one set of samples with the school? Who is responsible for flushing and sampling? If two or more facilities share the plumbing in one building or property, they are considered co-located even if they have their own dedicated space within the same building. Co-located facilities may share one set of samples for regulatory purposes, and may share flushing and sampling duties and records provided that they follow the requirements for such facilities set out in the regulation. If samples are being shared, the ministry strongly recommends that a written agreement between operators is made, which describes the responsibilities of each. This sharing of flushing and sampling duties is not mandatory, and all school, private school, and day nursery operators remain responsible for ensuring that flushing and sampling complies with O. Reg. 243/07. FAQ: Lead Testing Program O. Reg. 243/07 | 3