The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just released $26 million nationwide to help remove unsafe levels of lead found in children’s drinking water at schools.
The grant funds released last Thursday August 22 at the direction of the Biden-Harris administration includes $1,152,000 million for Georgia. The funding stems from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in 2021, which saw an unprecedented $15 billion to remove lead from drinking water.
Lead is known to be unsafe, especially in children, whose neurological development it can harm. Environment Georgia Research & Policy Center released an analysis in October of 2022 that found 45 percent of more than 2000 tested samples contained lead concentrations above the standard 15 parts per billion (ppb) recommended by public health experts for as a sample threshold.
It should be noted, however, that the 15 ppb threshold comes from the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) which states that if more than10 percent of samples collected in a water test exceed 15 ppb for lead, it must be addressed. In other words, it doesn’t necessarily mean that concentrations of lead under 15 ppb are safe. In fact, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) states that there are no known levels of lead exposure that are harmless.
Jennette Gayer, director of Environment Georgia, said that the lead in drinking water is an issue that should not be understated.
“We know that lead impacts kids more than adults, and they’re being exposed in one of the places they spend the most amount of time,” Gayer said, referencing schools.
Gayer advocates for stricter guidelines that lower the acceptable levels of lead to somewhere in the one to five ppb region, which would drive remediation of the issue much quicker. Nevertheless, she’s said she and Environment Georgia are happy that something is being done.
“It’s exciting to see the federal government sending some money to Georgia to actually deal with the problem,” Gayer said.
While she is excited about the action being taken, Gayer also acknowledged that she hopes the money is used to actually address the problem instead of doing even more testing. Lead can make its way into drinking water in a number of ways, with some of the biggest culprits being lead service line pipes, plumbing and pipes connections. The Biden-Harris administration, along with the EPA and other agencies, have aimed to undergo lead service line replacements, with a goal of replacing every lead water servicing line.
The solution for schoolchildren, however, may be simpler than replacing drinking water lines — at least in the immediate future, according to Gayer.
“One of the solutions that we actually recommend has nothing to do with service lines or ripping out all the plumbing,”Gayer said.” It’s simply to install filters where there is a tap in a school.”
She added that many people are familiar with this sort of technology and may just not recognize it — like the water bottle refilling stations in places like the airport, for example. These filters, Gayer said, are able to remove lead from drinking water.
While this round of funding may not be enough to solve the problem in its entirety, Gayer said it is a great start — and one she hopes makes people more aware of the dangers of lead in children’s drinking water in schools and childcare facilities.
