A new analysis by Environment Texas Research and Policy Center of testing data submitted by schools to the state finds that lead contaminates much of Texan schools’ water.
Of the 1,509 schools and daycare centers that reported data, 1,175 (nearly 78%) reported at least one instance of lead in drinking water. Environment Texas called on the state legislature to provide significant funding to help districts purchase lead-filtering hydration stations and filters for other outlets used for cooking or drinking water.
“Lead in school drinking water is a pervasive problem in Texas. That’s bad news for our children’s developing brains,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of both Environment Texas and its research & policy center, in a press release. “We send our kids to school to learn and grow. We should not tolerate them being exposed to a poison which could cost them IQ points or cause behavioral problems.”
Environment Texas Research and Policy Center reviewed records that those 1,509 schools and daycare centers submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) as part of the agency’s Lead Testing in School and Child Care Program. Of the 1,509 schools that reported data, 1,175 (nearly 78%) identified lead levels above 1 part per billion (ppb), the standard recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, at least one tap.
The press release states that there is no safe level of lead, and the EPA has indicated that “in children, low levels of [lead] exposure have been linked to damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing and impaired formation and function of blood cells.” Research also shows that “an excess risk for criminal behavior in adulthood exists when an individual is exposed to lead in utero or in the early years of childhood.”
School districts in Austin, Houston and other cities have begun to address the problem by installing lead-filtering hydration stations in schools. Environment Texas is calling on the Texas Legislature to create a fund to help districts purchase these water stations, as well as filters for all other taps used for cooking, drinking water and beverage preparation at school..
“With 24 million children in America estimated to be at risk of losing IQ points due to low levels of lead exposure, there is no time to waste to ensure that children across Texas aren’t harmed by lead-laced water in the faucets and fountains they drink from each and every day,” Metzger said in a press release.
