Schoolchildren tested for lead after water scare in Goodsprings

County health officials conducted voluntary blood tests Wednesday on seven schoolchildren and four adults who may have consumed lead-tainted water in the tiny town of Goodsprings, 40 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

The Southern Nevada Health District offered the screenings in response to a routine water test in September that showed elevated lead levels in the water system that supplies Goodsprings Elementary School and the adjacent community center.

Dr. Joe Iser, the district’s chief health officer, said the blood tests were recommended “in an abundance of caution” for anyone who may have consumed water at those locations between Aug. 24, 2015, and March 1.

Iser said he could not discuss the results of Wednesday’s screenings, but he offered something of a hint: “I very much doubt if anyone will show up with elevated blood-lead levels,” he said.

The health district has offered to perform follow-up testing and make “appropriate referrals to a medical provider” for anyone who might show signs of lead exposure, which can cause brain damage and other health problems.

“Additionally, health district staff will conduct environmental assessments on the personal residence of any person found to have an elevated blood-lead level to help further determine the source of the exposure,” the health district said in its statement.

Water samples collected by the Clark County School District in September showed a lead concentration of 16 parts per billion, just above the action level of 15 parts per billion set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The school district notified the health district about the results in February, and Iser said that’s when his agency began planning its response.

The first order of business was to shut off the drinking fountains and begin handing out bottled water at the school and the community center. That was followed with a letter, sent to parents and school staff members on March 16, recommending the blood screening for anyone who might have consumed the tainted water.

In the early 20th century, Goodsprings was at the heart of one of Southern Nevada’s most productive mining districts, and lead was among the minerals extracted there. But the boom seemed to fade for good after World War II, leaving the husk of a town now home to just over 200 people, according to Clark County estimates.

Iser said the seven children who underwent the finger-stick blood test Wednesday represent nearly the entire student body at the K-5 school.

The screenings were conducted at the historic schoolhouse, which marked its 100th birthday in 2013.

A staff member who answered the phone at Goodsprings Elementary on Wednesday afternoon referred all questions to the school district’s communications office.

In a statement Wednesday, the school district stressed that elevated levels of lead were found only in samples taken from fixtures at the community center not at the school itself.

“(The health district) has tested students at Goodsprings Elementary and community members, and CCSD is providing bottled drinking water for use at both the community center and the school,” the statement from the school district reads. “The Southern Nevada Health District, Clark County School District and Clark County are working together to find more answers and a solution and will continue to keep the community informed.”

Iser suspects the lead contamination is coming from old pipes, fixtures or the solder used to hold them together, but tests will be conducted on the entire water system, including the source groundwater.

Most Goodsprings residents get their water from groundwater wells.

Lead in drinking water has become a nationwide concern following the crisis in Flint, Mich., where shortcuts by state and local officials resulted in widespread lead contamination in the economically depressed industrial city.

A recent investigation by USA Today and the Reno Gazette-Journal brought the issue into focus in Nevada, where state records requested by the news organizations showed three public water systems with lead levels above EPA’s action level: the Marigold Mine Potable Water System in Humboldt County, Fort Churchill Power Plant in Lyon County and the system in Goodsprings.

According to JoAnn Kittrell, spokeswoman for the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, all three sites have posted notices about the test results and started providing bottled water to drink.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.