There's a dirty secret lingering in U.S. school water fountains: lead. High levels of the toxic metal in school drinking water have caused some schools to completely close water fountains for years, providing students with plastic water bottles over fixing lead pipes. But other schools don't even know they have contaminated water. That's because testing school water fountains for lead isn't nationally mandated.
What's happening?
A recent Washington Post investigation shed light on lead in school water supplies. Many schools nationwide are plagued with aging infrastructure due to low funding, which means they are more likely to have old pipes that leach toxic lead into drinking water.
Lead piping was not widely phased out in the U.S. until a 1986 ban called the Safe Drinking Water Act. But while the ban prevented further use of lead pipes, it didn't require the replacement of existing lead pipes. Many schools built before 1986 have lead piping — and, even if they don't, some towns still have lead piping in their service connection.
A 2021 report found that only 18 states and the District of Columbia had a state requirement for school water testing. The majority of those states, however, only implemented school water testing post-2014 after the highly public lead water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
According to the Washington Post investigation, studies show that low-income communities and non-white communities are most likely to have lead-contaminated drinking water. This disparity was highlighted during the Flint water crisis, which is still ongoing, as Flint is a low-income area with a large Black population.
With no federal mandate on testing, many schools avoid testing fearing community blowback if lead is found, according to the Washington Post. Not only that, but replacing lead pipes is expensive and already struggling school districts just don't have the resources for an overhaul.
Why is lead in school water fountains important?
Lead contamination doesn't impact a small handful of schools. Lead is commonly discovered when schools test their water supplies — and lead poisoning is specifically devastating to children.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, even low levels of lead exposure have been linked to nervous system damage, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing, and impaired formation and function of blood cells.
Given the severe health impacts of lead exposure, activists and educators say legislators are failing children by not providing them access to clean, reliable drinking water in schools.
"Health and environmental experts say fixing the water in schools is one of the most efficient solutions to lowering the dangers of lead," the Washington Post wrote in its investigation. "The water in one school building can affect hundreds or thousands of children, the segment of the U.S. population that is the most vulnerable to lead poisoning, in a place where they spend a significant amount of time as they grow up."
Measures to provide students with clean drinking water alternatives — like heaps of bottled water — present another issue. Schools are replacing a sustainable way to access drinking water (via a water fountain) with an alternative that leads to increased plastic pollution. Bottled water isn't only bad for the environment; it's linked to its own harmful health impacts.
What's being done about lead in school water fountains?
In August, the EPA announced $26 million in funding specifically to address lead in school drinking water.
According to the Washington Post, the EPA is also expected to release a new rule in October requiring water testing at public elementary and childcare facilities. The rule will also offer to test public middle and high schools within the first five years. Though the rule would not require schools to fix lead piping if elevated levels are detected, it would give communities knowledge of their school system's water supply.
Advocacy groups like Environment America want schools to replace old-school water fountains with more modern water bottle stations that have filters to remove lead. They also want lead-filtering measures installed on all other taps, including those in school cafeterias for cooking. Some activists, however, fear filters would not be maintained and periodically replaced for them to remain effective.
If you are unsure of your local school district's water supply, advocate for testing in your community. A non-competitive, voluntary grant program allows schools to receive federal funding for school water testing. And, in the meantime, consider giving the children in your life reusable water bottles to allow them to bring safe, filtered water from home.
"Schools are places for learning and not places for kids to end up with a substance that is going to damage their ability to learn and grow," Cyndi Roper, senior policy advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Washington Post. "We can do better. We must do better."
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