It’s been decades since lead was first identified as a toxin harmful to the neurological development of young children. However, there are no federal laws that require schools, child care facilities or early education programs to test their drinking water for lead or copper.
That may soon change.
A proposed update to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule, now in the final stages of review, would require community water systems to test for lead in drinking water at 20% of K-12 schools and licensed child cares in their service area every year.
