Portland Public Schools Fixtures Replacement
Scope
The scope of the Portland Public Schools fixtures replacement was to replace 132 individual drinking fixtures across 28 different schools in the Portland. The fixtures replaced had high lead content that did not meet Portland Public School (PPS) standards for parts per million. In addition, all water supply plumbing leading out of the wall and into the fixture was replaced. This was an experiment proposed by DayCPM & PPS to reduce/eliminate lead at these water sources. After the fixtures were replaced, a large portion passed the lead test and now all of the schools have a clean source for drinking water. Another approach will need to be proposed by the design team to address the small portion of fixtures that did not pass the lead test despite our efforts.
Challenges
Every fixture was different and there was no consistency across schools. There was no telling of what size & material type the in wall fittings were for the plumbing supply. This lead to multiple trips to a plumbing supply store to make sure the connections work and were code compliant.
Ex: A reoccurring example would be a fixture having a 3/8″ brass nipple to connect to in wall, where the next fixture 10ft down would have a 1/2″ galvanized nipple to connect to.
