Dive Brief:
- The New York State Department of Health issued new regulations this week requiring all schools to test drinking fountains for lead contamination by the end of October.
- According to a release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s press office, the mandate represents the toughest lead contamination testing standards in the nation, directing schools to collect 250-milliliter samples from a cold water outlet in which the sample has been sitting in the pipes for between eight and 18 hours.
- While prior testing was voluntary, all schools will have to test this fall and report results to the state as well as the school community, and if lead levels are higher than 15 parts per billion, schools will have to come up with a lead remediation plan and provide alternate drinking sources in the interim.
Dive Insight:
More than a dozen schools in Boston were found to have elevated lead levels during spring and summer testing, forcing the district to provide bottled water for student and staff use. The water crisis in Detroit and Flint has sparked national fear over lead contamination in schools, and reporters across the country have uncovered equally bad or worse conditions in small towns and urban neighborhoods outside of Michigan. The problem almost exclusively impacts high-poverty communities, where old infrastructure continues to let lead seep into water supplies.
While testing in most states is voluntary, schools would do well to address community fears and publish test results. The Week correspondent Ryan Cooper suggests districts with major lead abatement needs appeal to national education foundation donors like Bill and Melinda Gates and the Walton family. Given the negative educational impact of long-term lead exposure, old infrastructure is an important issue for schools.