Metropolitan Water District, which supplies 70% of Glendale’s water supply, is one of the better utilities in the country, Pirbazari said. The remaining 30% comes from groundwater within city limits.
“If schools are taking water from the system, there should be no problem,” he said. “But when it comes to somebody’s home or school, it’s difficult to regulate because there’s old plumbing and so on.”
Like any business or residence in the city, Glendale public schools get their drinking water from Glendale Water & Power, said Daniel Askenaizer, the water quality manager at Glendale Water & Power.
New and upgraded plumbing systems were installed at many school sites through Measure K, a $186-million bond approved by voters in 1997, said Scott Price, Glendale Unified’s business services administrator.
“Is it all done? In the last 10 years, we haven’t replaced everything,” he said. “But if there are any trouble spots or if we have any questions or issues, we replace it. I wish we had the funds to replace everything, but we don’t.”
The AP report found contamination to be most apparent at schools that operate their own wells, but there are no similar schools within the Glendale district. Campuses in the Crescenta Valley draw their water from Crescenta Valley Water District, which mixes about 60% groundwater with about 40% that’s purchased from Foothill Municipal Water District. Foothill, in turn, gets its water from Metropolitan.
Water providers in Glendale and the Crescenta Valley said they were unaware of any private school that derives water from a private well.
From 1998 to 2008, 100 school districts and 2,250 schools breached federal drinking water standards. California led the nation in the most violations at 612, followed by Ohio with 451 and Maine with 417, according to the AP.
