"Chicago To Start Testing Water In Some Schools For Toxic Lead"

"Shortly after Chicago Public Schools disclosed the district has not tested water fountains for lead contamination, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the nation's third-largest school system will begin checking water in a small number of schools this year.

The announcement Wednesday came more than a month after the Tribune requested the results of any water quality tests conducted by or for CPS since 2012. The school district failed to respond within legal deadlines set by the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, but in an email sent an hour before Emanuel's office released its statement a district spokesman said CPS had no records to provide.

The water crisis in Flint, Mich., has put new pressure on cities and school districts to address the safety of drinking water. Like Flint, Chicago and many older cities required the use of lead plumbing during the last century, and few have been required to replace those pipes with safer materials."

Michael Hawthorne and Jennifer Smith Richards report for the Chicago Tribune April 27, 2016.