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Facilities Management at UNB Fredericton and UNB Saint John have conducted campus-wide water testing initiative for lead because of aging building infrastructure and questions received from students, faculty and staff.
As part of the testing, UNB submitted ‘worst-case scenario' water samples to an external laboratory, meaning instead of running the taps for five minutes as recommended by Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, we chose to take samples without running the taps. We did this because we recognize that students, faculty and staff may drink the water first thing in the morning without letting the water run.
Facilities management on both campuses also took five-minute flush samples from all of the fountains and sinks that exceeded the Health Canada guidelines based on our initial first-grab results. These five minute flush results will help us determine the source of lead in each location. They will also help us prioritize which areas will be repaired first.
We will continue to update you as more information becomes available. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Water Quality Working Group at waterquestions@unb.ca.
To date, we’ve tested more than 550 fountains and cold water taps on campus and 14 new fountains with filtration systems have been installed.
Of the approximately 90 taps and fountains on campus that exceeded the recommended lead levels, doing first grab sampling, only two exceeded the guidelines following the five minute flush.
We're going beyond what is required by Health Canada as we continue to base quality drinking water on our first results. This means that fountains on campus that didn't met the guidelines using our first grab results will be replaced with filtered units.
In the case of taps, we're using first grab results to evaluate and decide on approriate action.
The following is a link to a list of results for all drinking water sources (fountains and kitchenette cold water taps) on campus that were tested.
UNB Fredericton Water Testing Results (PDF File)
All drinking water sources on campus that have exceeded acceptable lead levels based on the first grab testing, have been turned off and/or marked ‘out of service'. If you are unsure of a given fountain or kitchen sink, it is recommended that you take the precautionary step of running the water for five minutes before using for drinking.
A list of all fountains and kitchenette water taps that were tested has been created outlining whether or not they are safe for drinking according to Health Canada’s Guidelines.
All drinking water sources that have exceeded acceptable lead levels have been turned off and/or marked ‘out of service'. We are investigating a number of solutions and hope to have something in place relatively soon.
If you are unsure of a given fountain or kitchen sink, it is recommended that you take the precautionary step of running the water for five minutes before using for drinking.