An “F” for Voluntary School Lead Testing Programs

If parents found out that their children were exposed to lead each day from the water they drank at school or at day care, they would be outraged, along with the teachers and staff who work there. But the reality is that in the vast majority of the United States today, there is effectively no limit on lead in drinking water in schools or day care facilities. That's because most states and the federal government rely on voluntary lead testing programs-and some states have no lead in school drinking water program at all.

Many of the voluntary programs have no remediation requirement or enforcement mechanism, and enrollment is often dismal. Our review of voluntary testing programs, discussed below, found that in most states less than 50% of schools enroll. These voluntary testing programs are a far cry from what is needed and proven to protect kids: providing filtered water^[1] in schools and in child care centers.^[2]

Unfortunately, kids and infants will remain unprotected because EPA's latest iteration of the Lead and Copper Rule does not require any action in schools or child care centers.

Despite the serious flaws in the current system, EPA's proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (due to be finalized in October), proposes continued voluntary testing. The rule merely requires utilities to informschools and day cares their water can be tested by their local water utility. Under EPA's proposal, once a notice is sent to schools that their water may be tested if the school chooses, the requirement is fulfilled. Nothing else must be done. This is like marking homework "complete" once it's sent home and is in stark contrast to the only proven and effective solution: to install certified water filters. NRDC has urged EPA to revise the LCRI and adopt that approach. If EPA doesn't, we need Congress to fix the problem.

Experience tells us that lead is typically present in drinking water in schools and often present in day care centers. That fact, combined with demonstrated low participation rates in voluntary programs and even less frequent remediation, means that children and infants are continuously exposed to lead in the places where they come to learn and grow, unbeknownst to them and their parents.

Why is it so important to protect children from lead in schools and day care facilities? Because there is no safe level of lead exposure. The effects of lead exposure are so well-known one may tend to skim over them; but they cannot be overstated, especially when it comes to children. Even small amounts of lead can result in a lower IQ and result in hearing problems and learning and behavioral issues. These effects follow children their entire lives, affecting their families and communities, too. That's why using filters is imperative and voluntary testing programs fall short.

The best approach is to use our precious time and resources installing certified filters, maintaining them, and testing post-filtration water annually to ensure the filters are working correctly and protecting kids. Instead, forty states rely solely on voluntary testing for schools and/or child cares. While at least nine of these states had a one-time testing requirement at some point, those requirements have expired and have been replaced by voluntary testing.

The U.S.'s use of voluntary testing programs is problematic for many reasons. The biggest one is obvious: these programs do not require any mandatory action. Schools and day cares never have to remediate, install filters, or even test if they don't want to. And it turns out they don't want to.

A review of states' voluntary testing enrollment confirmed what we'd feared: most schools opt out. In the majority of states with voluntary programs, fewer than 50% of schools participated. Five states (Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, New Mexico, and Wyoming) had participation numbers in the single or double digits-all of these five states have hundreds or over a thousand schools. South Dakota reported a complete lack of interest, with no schools participating.

Because there are many potential sources of lead exposure for kids and the effects are so severe, it's important to address the "low hanging fruit" of lead in drinking water by using filters. Lead may be present in the paint at a child's school, in the drinking water or paint at their home, in the food they eat, and/or on the toysthey play with. It is likely present in the water at their school or day care. While EPA has been directed to help address lead at home via the removal of the lead pipe that leads up to a home, the Agency continues to rely on inadequate voluntary testing programs for schools and child care centers, which means our children continue to be exposed to lead in these facilities.

EPA even went out of its way to explain that the agency won't require action in schools and child care centers under the upcoming LCRI: "EPA is also proposing to remove the term 'mandatory'…because § 141.92 does not impose any requirements on schools and child care facilities, and EPA has heard this termmay add confusion."

But mandatory filtration requirements are exactly what our children need. Congress should require the use of filters certified to remove lead because it is the easiest, cheapest, and most health-protective approach. Currently, only Michigan and Washington, D.C. require filters and post-filtration testing. D.C.'s experience tells us that not only do the filters work to reduce lead to their certified level of 5 parts per billion (ppb), but they also typically remove lead down to 1 pbb or less, in line with the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation.

We don't need more voluntary programs that leave kids unprotected and parents in the dark; we've tried that for years and it does not work. If EPA will not address the issue of lead in school and day care drinking water, we need our federal elected officials to step up. We need federal legislation requiring the installation of certified filters in schools and child care centers because it's the only way to ensure our kids are protected from lead in drinking water in the places they go to grow and develop.

Schools don't want to test because they can't or don't want to fix the problem. Lead in drinking water is a public health crisis that permanently impacts the trajectory of a child's life. The combination of essentially no lead limits in these facilities' water, children's increased vulnerability to the effects of lead, and the unique plumbing in these facilities which increases the chances of lead exposure, all point to the need to fix this very solvable problem, now.

^[1] The water should be filtered using a filter certified to remove lead.

^[2] Day care and child care are used interchangeably here as the nomenclature differs from state to state.

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