Lorna Cherot Littleway is reporting in The Columbia Paper the Taconic Hills Board of Education has allocated $7,500 for mandatory water testing for lead. In September, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation requiring that all school districts test drinking water for lead contamination. Taconic Hills Facilities Director Nicholas Smith told the board at its meeting last month that 420 samples were taken and sent out for analysis on September 19. “Every cold water outlet was tested,” Smith said. The K-12 facility, located on County Route 11A in Craryville, is supplied by two wells. Smith said that should the test results indicate an unacceptable level of lead, the district would then conduct flush tests to determine whether the contamination was from the water source or the faucet. The new law requires school districts to test their water every five years. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.