Testing for Lead in School Drinking Water is a National Priority

The 2015 crisis in Flint, Michigan, made headlines regarding the dangers of toxic levels of lead in school drinking water. This issue has become a national priority, and our east coast colleagues are tracking the recently proposed legislation in Pennsylvania (PA HB930) would require all schools to perform annual lead testing of all outlets used for drinking and cooking. Nationwide, states are lowering the lead level for their school lead in drinking water testing programs. For example Vermont recently lowered the lead action level 4ppb. Even the EPA Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) may change the lead level first to 10 ppb and later to 5ppb in the coming years.

Voluntary State programs have fallen short in terms of adequate testing for lead in school drinking water, and technical guidance for proper planning and implementation of water testing programs is lacking. This is well documented in a Federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report to Congressional Requesters in July 2018.

Terraphase Engineering, Inc. (Terraphase) is at the forefront of this national crisis and has been supporting water purveyors since 2017 with its testing program. We’ve recently begun a new 5-year program for the School District of Philadelphia providing testing for over 250 facilities.

For more information, please see our lead testing services cut-sheet here. Reach out to West Coast contact, Michael Messina, at (916) 594-8499 x35 or east coast contact, Scott Renneisen, at (215) 297-3502 x44.