Students to Check Tap Water for Lead

A group of students will be testing tap water in all of Harvard's undergraduate dorms this week to determine whether it contains hazardous levels of lead.

The investigation is being sponsored by The Harvard Salient, a politically conservative journal, which will publish test results in two weeks. "We've all seen brown, yellow or funny-tasting water," said Salient editor Ronald Granieri '89. "We thought it would be neat to find out if there's any lead in it."

Effie Anagnostopoulos '92, the Salient staffer who is supervising the tests, said she and several freshman volunteers have taken water samples from each of the Yard dorms and from Cabot House, and plan to take samples from all of the other residential Houses within the next few days.

Anagnostopoulos, a student in Chemistry 10, said she plans to test the water this weekend in a Harvard chemistry lab.

John M. Price, the University's industrial hygienist, said students have no particular reason to worry about lead poisoning. He said water discoloration "is independent of lead--that would just be some rust." University officials have also said harmless levels of manganese dioxide in the water contribute to the color.

Price said Harvard "hasn't seen any reason" to test its water for lead in recent years. He said lead levels in Cambridge's water are "well within government standards." Harvard's water comes from the Fresh Pond reservoir.

Lead contamination is caused by lead-based solder used on pipe joints, Price said, adding that lead-based solder is illegal and has not been used by the University in years.

Lead-contaminated water is fairly common in the Boston area, according to Anthony B. Abruzese, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Division of Water Supply. Federal standards limit lead concentrations in water to 50 parts per billion, although Abruzese said any water with more than 20 parts per billion is unsafe. He added that drinking severely contaminated water can damage the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, and kidneys.

Test Process Difficult

Price said that testing water for lead can be more difficult than it seems. "You have to follow certain techniques or you can get false positive results," he said. "It's very easy to contaminate the sampling containers. I would question if they're taking controlled samples and can back up their data."

Anagnostopoulos said she has taught volunteer testers proper procedures, but that she "may have to redo taking water samples" from the freshman dorms. She said she plans to discuss proper testing technique with her Chem 10 section leader.

The Salient staff has been "kicking the idea of testing around for about a year-and-a-half," Granieri said. "It might turn out that the water is just bad-tasting and funny-looking, but not bad for you," he added. "We'll have the results next week."