Dallas ISD officials will start testing water for lead at all of its campuses by Oct. 1, according to documents obtained Thursday by The Dallas Morning News.

The move comes after the district learned that many district water fountains were made by the same manufacturers who supplied Fort Worth schools. This summer, the Fort Worth district announced it was replacing about 500 fountains after finding high lead levels in nearly three dozen elementary schools.

“We’re not sure if we have any of the same type of fountains they do, but as we had the same three manufacturers, we’re going to assume that we do. So we proceeded to look at how to test them,” said Christopher Gray, DISD’s director of environmental health and safety.

Across the nation, schools are taking a critical look at the water children drink following the crisis in Flint, Mich. Lead contamination can have long-lasting effects on health, particularly in brain development for young children.

Recent testing at South Oak Cliff High School that followed outcry from the community found lead levels for drinking water were below federal levels that trigger action, according to results released Thursday. Earlier tests at the school that found low levels of lead concerned many in the school’s community, who demanded further testing.

According to a report by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality released Thursday by the district, only one sink at the school was above the federal threshold. Officials said it was in a copy room not used for drinking water. That sink was removed from use this week.

Now, Dallas is working on a district-wide plan to test water quality at all its schools, particularly of older water fountains.

Fort Worth’s fountains with high lead levels all used a similar design in which a metal reservoir could store water, which allowed for lead to leach into the supply. They were made by three manufacturers.

Dallas officials contacted those companies, which also supplied schools here, to see if similar fountain designs were used. Gray said they were unable to determine if the exact styles were used here.

Dallas has an estimated 3,100 water fountains at its 228 campuses. The district will conduct random testing of fountains made before 2008. In addition, each school will have a kitchen source and one other water source tested, which could be a fountain or sink.

“This will allow us to take our time in examining the quality while also moving swiftly in our response,” Gray said. The random sampling of those older fountains will allow for a clearer statistical picture more quickly, he said.

The district will take samples from instructional facilities only and test for lead. Gray said the district isn’t testing for other contaminants because tests that have found problems across the nation have generally found lead to be the main concern.

Administrative buildings won’t be tested at this point but might be eventually, Gray said.

Earlier this year, Dallas found lead and other contaminants in the water at the district-owned Cotton building used by employees. Employees there now rely on bottled water.

For years, many districts only tested school water if there were a complaint about taste, smell or color.

But since the crisis in Flint sparked a state of emergency over high lead levels, public outcry for more water testing has steadily increased, particularly in schools.

The Environmental Protection Agency says there is no safe level of lead.

However, the federal agency only recommends — but does not generally require — schools to test water quality and take action when levels are high, generally above 20 parts per billion of lead.

Aging infrastructure such as pipes and water fountains can contribute to lead contaminating water. Schools from Oregon to New York have found unsafe levels of lead.

Other districts ramping up their testing program in Texas include Arlington, Denton, Richardson, and Houston.

Plano took random samples from several older campuses in the last year that showed lead levels were within EPA recommendations, officials said this summer. In the spring, Keller tested all 39 district facilities and found them all to be below those guidelines, too.

Irving officials said they do not conduct such testing but do flush their fountains after any extended break — such as summer — to rid the lines of long-standing water.

Still, more districts are getting curious. Just this week, Mesquite school officials ordered six water sampling kits to explore the issue, as well.

The Mansfield school district, which does not routinely test its water, did so after Fort Worth's news. It found one fountain at Brooks Wester Middle School and one faucet assembly at Willie Brown Elementary that exceeded federal action levels.

So Mansfield officials removed that fountain as well as an adjacent one as a result. Two faucet assemblies were replaced at Brown.