The Vestal Central School District’s highest priority is always the health and well-being of our students, staff and the community members who also utilize our facilities. The District has taken steps to comply with legislation signed by New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo which mandates that all schools in the state test drinking water for lead contamination.
Testing Requirements
All outlets currently or potentially used for drinking or cooking must be tested with a first-draw sample. In addition, beginning in the year 2023, the water tests are required to be repeated every three years.
District Water Sources
In the Vestal Central School District, the water source at African Road, Clayton Avenue, Glenwood and Vestal Hills Elementary Schools, Vestal Middle School and Vestal High School is the Town of Vestal Municipal Water. Tioga Hills Elementary School receives water from the Town of Owego. Previously, schools in New York were not required to test their drinking water for lead. However, in March 2016 we voluntarily conducted random-sample testing throughout the school district.
Final Results (updated September 2023)
Beginning in 2023, New York State has reduced safe levels at 15 parts per billion (ppb) to 5 ppb. The EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency) safe-level requirement is 15 ppb. Please find initial results for the New York State Department of Health's Lead Testing in School Drinking Water from Vestal Central School District buildings on the right of this web page. Vestal High School, Vestal Middle School, Clayton Avenue Elementary, Glenwood Elementary and Vestal Hills Elementary had some outlets and piping which needed to be replaced and/or resampled in order to obtain results less than 5 ppb. Updated charts showing the results are on the right.
In addition, per the NYS Department of Health's guidance, the Superintendent re-identified which outlets at each school building meet the regulation criteria for sampling. The Superintendent determined that a portion of outlets, that had tested greater 5 ppb, are beyond the scope of the regulation and took actions to ensure that these outlets will not be used for drinking or cooking. These outlets were then documented in a remedial action plan, which is retained on-site and describes the following actions:
- The engineering controls in place to prevent consumption of the water from these outlets (i.e. signs in the science lab, custodial and technology faucets, locked doors to non-students areas such as custodial closets and hose bibs, etc.)
- Supervision, if applicable; and
- Continued education reminding students and staff not to consume water from these outlets.
At this point, all water outlets used for drinking or cooking in all school buildings have been remediated and await retesting. Also to the right is a link to a chart showing final total outlets that required sampling under New York State's amended guidance, along with those from non-potable sources which were sampled.