For the past five years, the Investigative Journalism Bureau has been monitoring and analyzing lead levels in drinking water at schools and daycares across Ontario.
Our ground-breaking analysis has found nearly half the province’s public schools have had at least one test for toxic lead in drinking water exceed the federal safety guideline, potentially impacting more than 800 000 students. This investigation sheds light on the significant health risks associated with lead exposure, including severe cognitive impairments in young children. The project aims to inform the public, hold authorities accountable, and advocate for immediate actions to ensure safe drinking water in school and daycares across the province.
Photo courtesy of Nicole Shadbolt
More than 40 Ottawa-area schools and daycares have repeatedly exceeded the federal lead safety guideline for drinking water.
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The IJB’s investigation into lead levels in drinking water at Ontario schools and daycares has attracted extensive media attention throughout the province. Here is a repository of the coverage.
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Hours after the Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) published a report exposing widespread provincial lead test failures in schools and daycares on Thursday, NDP environment critic Sandy Shaw voiced her outrage at Queen’s Park.
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Are you a parent living in Ontario? Your child may be exposed to drinking water at school or in daycare that exceeds the federal safety guideline for lead content. In collaboration with the University of Toronto’s HIVE Lab, we’ve developed an interactive database that allows you to check lead test results for Ontario schools and daycares between 2019 and 2023. Simply enter the name of a school or daycare in the box below and press enter. The results will appear automatically.
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In the past four years, nearly half the province’s public schools have had at least one test for toxic lead in drinking water exceed the federal safety guideline, an analysis by the Investigative Journalism Bureau has found. That lead-laced water could have impacted more than 800,000 students in roughly 2,300 elementary and high schools in that time even as new evidence reveals the toxin’s devastating impacts on human health.
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Lead in Drinking Water
The most recent data shows one in 10 water quality tests from Ontario schools and daycares found lead levels above Health Canada’s maximum accepted concentration of 5 parts per billion (ppb), a Toronto Star/Investigative Journalism Bureau investigation has found.
Read the storyThe IJB releases short audio briefs explaining the stories we report. They’re meant to be a quick way to learn what we’re working on. We hope that you’ll listen. First up in this new feature is reporter Inori Roy discussing the recent investigation into lead in the drinking water of Ontario schools and daycares.
Listen to the audioTwo years after journalists revealed that nine per cent of schools and daycares in Ontario exceeded national safety guidelines for lead in drinking water, the scale of the problem remains unchanged.
The most recent data shows one in 10 water quality tests from Ontario schools and daycares found lead levels above Health Canada’s maximum accepted concentration.