There must be something in the water

Water gets personal as National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week draws to a close

I recently took a trip down memory lane and walked the halls of my high school in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. I visited my old locker, my favorite classroom, the cafeteria — all preserved exactly as they had been in my memory.

But one stop I made revealed something new: they had replaced my favorite water fountain! I popped into the principal’s office on the way out, and casually inquired about the switch. What he said has been on my mind ever since: they replaced all the fountains and faucets in our school, because the water coming out of them had tested positive for lead.

Lead is a potent neurotoxin that impairs how children learn, grow and behave. Even low levels of exposure have been linked to hyperactivity, learning disabilities, and damage to children’s central and peripheral nervous systems. Children are especially vulnerable to absorbing this toxin. There is no safe level of lead.

I’ll never know how much lead I ingested over four years at my high school, but I do know this: even low levels of lead are putting 24 million American children at risk of losing IQ points.

This toxic threat to public health is not just in my town. In the wake of the crisis in Flint, Michigan, schools from Massachusetts to Montana are testing their water and finding lead in thousands of faucets and fountains.

What’s more, in all likelihood, these confirmed cases are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a simple explanation for why this is happening: we’ve built our water delivery systems using this dangerous toxin. Most schools have at least some lead in their pipes, plumbing or fixtures. And wherever there is lead, there’s a threat of contamination.

So how do we address this pervasive threat? The answer is simple: Get the Lead Out. Removing the source of the contamination is the only way to ensure our children are safe.

While it will take some time to replace lead-lined fixtures and plumbing, schools can immediately install filters certified to remove lead on every faucet and fountain used for drinking or cooking, just like my school did. And finally, because even low levels of lead can irreversibly damage children’s health, schools must shut off taps where lead in water exceeds one part per billion, the standard recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

The good news is state and local officials are starting to take action to address lead in schools’ drinking water. In California, our partners at CALPIRG worked with local officials in San Diego and Oakland to commit to reducing lead in schools’ water to 5 parts per billion — not quite the AAP standard, but far lower than the state and federal standard. Environment Texas convinced the Austin school district to install filters or replace water fountains wherever lead exceeds 1 part per billion. And the state of Illinois is now requiring schools to remediate any level of lead detected in their water.

It’s scary to think about the toxins we’ve all been exposed to during the course of our lives. But whether it’s ruminating about the over 6 million lead service lines that make up American water infrastructure, or worrying about the lead I probably drank as a child, dwelling on the past won’t fix anything. All we can do is ensure that future generations live in a world free from these fears. So let’s get to work.