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.
The IJB has updated its publicly-accessible Lead Tracker database which details lead levels in school and daycare drinking water. The interactive tool, developed with the HIVE Lab at the University of Toronto, now includes five years of data including results from the most recent 2023-24 school year. All school boards in the province are included.
Ontario schools and daycares are not required to proactively inform parents or caregivers when children are exposed to high lead levels. The Lead Tracker database allows the public to access all lead test results logged since 2019 at schools and daycares across the province.
The IJB’s latest story on unsafe lead levels in school water draws on this data. It is the latest in our ongoing investigation into unsafe drinking water at schools and daycares in Ontario.
If you have a story to tell, please reach out to us at ijb.dlsph@utoronto.ca.
And if you value this work, please consider supporting it with a charitable donation to the IJB here.
The Investigative Journalism Bureau is a non-profit, impact-driven newsroom telling deeply-reported stories in the public interest.
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