Why are so many children drinking lead-contaminated water at school?
By Dr. Lyndon Haviland
August 31, 2024
TheHill.com
All across the nation, children are heading back to school and millions will soon be drinking lead-contaminated water — a health hazard that is impossible to detect with the naked eye and extremely difficult to avoid. …
The U.S. government has known about this problem for decades and done little about it. Lead water contamination in schools is putting our children’s health and cognitive development in jeopardy. … Every child has the right to attend a school where the water isn’t contaminated with lead. U.S. public health agencies have a responsibility to protect them from being poisoned. …
In October, the U.S. EPA is expected to announce a new rule requiring utilities to test for lead water contamination “at all the elementary and child care facilities they serve.” … The EPA ruling will not require utilities to remediate the water if tests show lead to be present. In other words, the EPA will point out the problem, but it won’t do anything to fix it. …
Kids are being poisoned with lead at school every day, yet we deny the nation’s leading environmental regulator the authority to protect them from a known and extremely serious long-term health threat. The nation’s children need us to do better than this.