Federal Aviation Administration employees working in two of its main buildings are being told to avoid drinking the water at the office, because of recent tests showing lead contamination.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1653 sent an email Monday, warning employees that water in the FAA’s headquarters, the Wilbur Wright Federal Building, and the hot water in its childcare center recently tested positive for lead contamination.
The union, which represents about 2,000 FAA employees, is telling employees in those buildings to avoid drinking the water, using it to brush their teeth, or washing any utensils, cups or coffee pots.
“The water in the building was found to be outside required thresholds over the weekend. The General Services Administration is working to fix the problem,” AFSCME Local 1653 President Dan Ronneberg wrote to employees.
The union says bottled water is available on all floors of FAA headquarters for drinking and handwashing.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “there is no safe level of exposure to lead.”
“The fact that there is no safe level of exposure underscores the fact that any action to reduce exposures can have impacts on lives and livelihoods,” the EPA states on its website.
An FAA employee sent Federal News Network a photo of a notice taped to a bathroom mirror by another employee, warning that “this water is not suitable for handwashing.”
However, the EPA states it’s safe to wash hands in lead-contaminated water, because “human skin does not absorb lead in water.”
The FAA said in a statement it will “respond directly to the union as outlined in their collective bargaining agreement.”
A GSA spokesperson told Federal News Network that “water at the Orville building was tested and is safe for all uses.”
“GSA is proactively taking remedial actions to ensure the water at the Wilbur building is safe for consumption. All test results for these buildings have been shared with the FAA. The water in the Wilbur building is safe for hand washing and GSA has proactively placed water coolers on every floor at the building as an additional option for employees. The health and safety of occupants at GSA-controlled facilities is a top priority,” the spokesperson said.
Ronneberg told Federal News Network that the FAA recently sent a message to employees about the water, and has posted signs throughout the building. However, he said the agency isn’t fully transparent about the extent of the problem.
“There were these signs saying, ‘Don’t use the water,’” Ronneberg said in an interview Wednesday. “We want to know, what is the contaminant that you’re telling people not to use the water, and how long has it been there? And what’s your plan for cleaning it up?”
The FAA, he added, has yet to release all water testing results to the union, but sent a testing summary showing the water recently tested positive for lead contamination.
“I requested a copy, multiple times now, of the testing. I’d like to know when the last clear test was, so I can at least give people a time frame about how long they’ve been drinking lead-contaminated water,” Ronneberg said.
AFSCME has filed a workplace grievance and a complaint with the EPA.
The union told members in its email that they also have the right to file individual grievances and individual complaints with the EPA, as well as contact members of Congress.
Ronneberg said the FAA isn’t effectively communicating the extent of the problem to employees.
“One employee said, ‘I thought it was just the water fountains, so I washed my breast-pumping equipment out in the sink in the bathroom.’ And so, she was washing her breast-pumping equipment, for breast milk that she’s pumping for her baby, in lead-contaminated water. She was horrified,” he said.
Ronneberg said the situation at the FAA raises concerns about the safety and condition of federal buildings, at a time when the Trump administration is directing nearly federal employees to return to the office full-time.
“We have this whole return-to-work process. The agency is very, very focused on getting everyone back into those buildings, but employees that are going to those buildings deserve to have a safe workplace and filling up a federal building that has no potable water in it is a problem,” Ronneberg said.
A GSA inspector general report in September 2023 found elevated levels of Legionella bacteria in the water at six GSA-controlled buildings. The report flagged federal buildings in Detroit, Chicago, Utah, Nebraska and New York state.
Last summer, GSA also found elevated levels of Legionella in the water at headquarters for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Social Security Administration.
The bacteria cause a serious type of pneumonia called Legionnaires’ disease. GSA said it’s testing water at larger federal buildings more regularly. GSA said it may provide bottled water to employees at impacted buildings or temporarily close a building if necessary.
GSA states on its website that Legionella is commonly found in building water systems, “even well-maintained ones.
According to the agency, studies indicate it is present in approximately 50% of large building water systems. The agency states it is considered a “normal part of plumbing system ‘microbiomes,’” and that most healthy people exposed to Legionella do not get sick.
Ronneberg said the root causes of the lead contamination at the FAA buildings may be a water heater that supplies hot water to the childcare center, as well as a water plant that brings water into the headquarters building.
“We believe that the contamination is happening in the building, not in the D.C. water, because we haven’t seen anything from D.C. But again, the agency is not being transparent. They haven’t provided me the actual water testing results, so I can’t verify any of that right there.”
Bloomberg first reported the lead contamination at the FAA on Tuesday.
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