Getting the lead out of America’s drinking water is vital for protecting the health and wellbeing of our children. Lead is a powerful neurotoxin with severe health impacts, especially for children, for whom even low levels of exposure can harm growth, development and cognitive function.
While people often think of lead exposure from paint chips or dust, our kids are also being exposed to lead through drinking water at school. Students at 400,000 schools and childcare centers nationwide are at risk of exposure to lead in school drinking water. Most schools rely on plumbing, fixtures and even drinking fountains that can leach lead into the water that children consume. As a result, lead contamination of water at school is widespread.
Yet there is good news: a growing number of communities – including Philadelphia, San Diego and Milwaukee – are making significant progress toward ending lead contamination of water at school. Their success stories provide a roadmap for other school districts to ensure safer drinking water wherever our kids go to learn and play each day.
Cities taking the lead on lead
Due to the widespread use of lead in plumbing and fixtures, the best way for schools to “get the lead out” is to take preventive measures at every tap used for drinking, cooking or beverage preparation. A prime example of this preventative approach is replacing all lead-bearing fountains with new lead-filtering water stations. This is far more effective than only remediating taps where the presence of lead in water is confirmed because lead testing is highly variable and testing often fails to accurately detect the maximum lead levels. The water from a fountain or faucet can remain “highly hazardous” even if several samples fail to detect lead, according to water engineering experts.
Here are three communities using this preventative approach to ensure safer water for kids:
Philadelphia’s school district has made noteworthy progress in removing lead from drinking water in schools. In 2022, Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed legislation requiring the School District of Philadelphia to replace all of its drinking fountains with lead-filtering hydration stations by the end of the 2025 school year. Since 2017, the district has installed 1,500 stations and plans to add nearly 800 more by 2025. To make this happen, $6.2 million was included in the district’s 2022–2023 budget, with the district obtaining a nearly $5 million grant from the EPA to defray much of the cost.
Another city that made progress and set an ambitious goal for addressing lead in school is San Diego. The San Diego Unified School District has taken serious steps to protect children in schools. In 2020, the district committed to replacing all 2,000 of its drinking fountains and installing filtered water stations to stop lead from getting into the water from old pipes, solder or fixtures. The district also lowered the lead limit in school drinking water from 5 parts per billion (ppb) to 1 ppb, matching the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
A third city addressing lead in schools is Milwaukee. Milwaukee’s commitment to safe drinking water in schools began in 2016, when the district tested water in all its public schools and committed to ensuring filtration at every drinking fountain.
Milwaukee Public Schools then adopted a “filter first” approach to reducing lead exposure in 2023 – a policy best practice that focuses resources on fixing the problem of lead in drinking water rather than emphasizing frequent testing. The district has already replaced outdated water fountains with more than 3,250 lead-filtering hydration stations.
A big step foward
Philadelphia, San Diego, and Milwaukee are examples of what can be achieved for school districts and our children. For parents, teachers and school administrators who want to follow their lead on lead, Environment America has a free toolkit with facts, cost estimates, and sample materials.
Continued federal financial support could help these and other cities get the lead out of school drinking water. Since 2019, the EPA’s Voluntary School and Childcare Lead Testing and Reduction Grant has provided over $150 million to test for and remove lead in drinking water in schools and childcare facilities. In 2024, the Biden administration expanded its support by allocating $26 million specifically to protect children in schools and childcare centers.
While these are significant steps to protect children, drinking water in schools is not the only source of lead contamination. Lead service lines (LSLs) across the country also pose a major risk to public health and must be replaced.
Federal support has made a difference here, too. Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $15 billion has been allocated to remove lead pipes and provide technical assistance for communities developing replacement projects. And in 2024, the Biden administration approved a landmark rule requiring all lead service lines in most communities to be replaced within 10 years. This rule is a critical step toward addressing the estimated nine million LSLs still in use today, which continue to pose a significant health risk.
The goal of eliminating lead from our water supplies is still far off and states’ progress has been uneven. While some states are slower to act than others, many have successfully used federal funding to accelerate their lead removal efforts. Philadelphia, San Diego and Milwaukee show that schools can get the lead out. By following their example, school districts across the country can ensure that America’s kids have safe water to drink wherever they go to learn and play each day.
