Water Testing Results Sept. 10, 2025

At 12 PM on September 10, 2025, routine compliance testing by the Herscher Public Works Department (performed on August 18, 2025) revealed elevated lead levels at Trinity Lutheran Church.  The sites tested and the results are as follows:

Church kitchen: 8.96 µg/L (ppb)

Preschool hallway drinking fountain: 10.6 µg/L (ppb)

The state threshold above which action must be taken is 2.01 ppb.  As the results exceed this level, Little Lambs is required to notify families of these results and create a mitigation plan, which we must have within 120 days of the received results.  While a mitigation plan is being drafted, here are the immediate steps being taken:

⁃      The drinking fountain that must be used for compliance testing is not used by the preschool to supply the children with drinking water.  Instead, we use the classroom sink.  Due to the elevated lead levels detected elsewhere in the building, we are switching to bottled drinking water immediately, effective September 11th, 2025.  The drinking fountain has been disabled.

⁃      As a DCFS-exempt facility, we are also exempt from their lead testing requirements.  Licensed facilities would normally submit a copy of their mitigation plan to their licensing representative, so we must clarify who will receive our mitigation plan (if anyone).  Regardless, a mitigation plan will be sent home with students within the 120-day time frame.

⁃      Despite not being subject to lead testing requirements as set forth by DCFS, we naturally still wish to know about the safety of our drinking water and will be testing the classroom sink water for lead as soon as possible.  All drinking water supplied to the children at school will be bottled water until we receive results on the sink water that are below the 2.01 ppb threshold.  If the results from that location are elevated, students will receive bottled water until the results come back below the action threshold two times in a row.

⁃      Due to water quality changes experienced in other parts of the church which correspond to the construction on Park Road, it has been recommended that we re-test the compliance sites early to determine if the sample may have been affected by outside water line management.  However, it has also been recommended that we wait until the water lines near the church have been reconnected and flushed.  That means we will also need to wait to test the preschool sink.  Families will be notified of results for the classroom sink as well as follow-up results for the drinking fountain and church kitchen.  Unfortunately, I cannot provide a firm timeline for when we will receive the updated results.

One of the standard required health records for preschool (which we ask for at Little Lambs) is a copy of a physical with lead screening results before October 30th of the Pre-K 4 year (p 7 of our handbook and noted on our supply lists).  This is because elevated levels of lead can pose certain health risks at certain levels.  For more information on the effects of lead, you can visit https://www.epa.gov/lead or speak with your pediatrician.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via phone, e-mail, or ClassDojo, and I will do my best to provide answers.

– Mrs. Brown
Preschool office: (815) 426-2262 x105
director@littlelambsherscher.org