High Lead Levels in Water in Olmsted County?

It's not quite like over in Flint, Michigan, but it looks like high levels of lead have been found in two locations in Olmsted County.

According to test results from the Environmental Protection Agency, a water system in southeast Rochester and one in the town of Nerstrand in Olmsted County both were found to contain lead levels above the action level limit, according to a story in the Post-Bulletin.

The system in Rochester affects the Federal Medical Center campus in southeast Rochester, and is caused by the aging buildings themselves, the story said. "The problem where the lead is coming from is actually from inside the old buildings," Tony Hill, an Olmsted County regulator compliance coordinator said in the story.

The story said the county has installed filters as well as a "let it run" program for FMC employees, and that when the water was tested again after using those programs, lead levels fell back to acceptable levels.

Meanwhile, over in Nerstrand, the story said the high lead levels could be attributed to an error. "They way they do the testing is they have homeowners take samples, and one of the samples they took was tested wrong. So when they had it retested within a couple of days, it came up negative," Nerstrand Mayor Joel Hochschild said in the P-B story.

You can get more on the story HERE.