Washington A total of $26 million in funding for states and territories to address lead in drinking water at schools and childcare facilities is being announced today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA has invested more than $200 million since 2018 to help lower lead exposure in drinking water where kids play and learn.
Lead is a neurotoxic that can harm children in the United States. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin stated, “This year’s $26 million in funding will help more schools find the sources of lead in their water and take action so that our nation’s children can focus on learning, playing, and developing skills that will maximize their potential and make our nation stronger.”
EPA will allocate grant funding to states and territories through the Voluntary School and Child Care Lead Testing and Reduction Grant Program. Total allotment amounts for each of the 50 states, DC, and four territories can be found on the grant website. Tribal allotments for this program will be released separately.
The EPA is dedicated to preventing lead in drinking water from harming American communities and children. EPA’s Training, Testing, and Taking Action program (3Ts) offers guidance and recommendations to assist states and local authorities in developing voluntary programs to lower lead in drinking water in addition to this funding program. Since 2019, more than 20,000 childcare centers and almost 13,000 schools have benefited from this initiative by having their water tested for lead, and more than 1,300 childcare centers and 2,500 schools have finished remediation work.
Approximately 97% of the 1,552 school and childcare institutions that Texas intended to examine have been sampled thanks to this grant. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s free initiative to perform voluntary sampling and analysis for lead in drinking water is responsible for this achievement.
About 600,000 children in Colorado have been shielded from lead exposure in drinking water thanks to the state’s Test and Fix Water for Kids program. With 360 schools having their drinking water equipment upgraded, New Hampshire tops the nation. An additional 80 child care centers were subject to remediation measures.
Background
In order to provide funds to states, territories, and tribes to support local and tribal educational agencies in conducting voluntary testing for lead contamination in drinking water at schools and child care facilities, the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act created the Lead Testing in School and Child Care Program Drinking Water grant in 2016.
Source : Epa Gov
