The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week announced awards totaling over $5.5 million toward nine different states to identify sources of lead in drinking water in schools and child care facilities.
The funding is intended to help protect children and helps advance the federal action plan to reduce childhood lead exposures.
“Protecting children’s health is one of the most important aspects of EPA’s mission, and we could not fulfill this mission without the instrumental partnerships with our states and tribes,” said Acting Regional Administrator David Gray. “As part of Lead Poisoning Prevention Week and Children’s Health Month, EPA is excited to announce the WIIN grants to help reduce lead in school drinking waters and protect children where they learn and play.”
The awards come as part of $26 million in funding under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act for states, territories, and tribes to test for lead in schools and childcare facilities. Within WIIN funding is the Voluntary Lead Testing in Schools and Child Care Drinking Water grant program, which protects children’s health reduces childhood lead exposures.
The grants support EPA’s action plan for reducing lead in school drinking water — Training, Testing, and Taking Action, or the 3 Ts. This toolkit helps prepare schools, child care facilities and states to build a voluntary implementation program to reduce lead levels in drinking water with detailed training modules and materials.
"Understanding where exposure to lead occurs is a critical first step in reducing blood-lead rates in children," said EPA New England Acting Regional Administrator Deborah Szaro. "EPA's WIIN Act Lead Testing in School and Childcare Drinking Water Grant is a terrific resource for states like Maine to use to uncover and fix potential sources of lead in drinking water."
The WIIN Lead Testing in Schools and Childcare Program was introduced in 2019 with $43.7 million in grant funds and was expanded in 2021 with an additional $26.5 million in grant funds to states, territories, and tribes nationwide.
The following states were included in EPA’s recent set of announcements:
- Louisiana, $572,000
- Oklahoma, $360,000
- Arkansas, $244,000
- Texas $2,000,000
- Vermont, $117,000
- New Hampshire, $887,000
- Massachusetts, $327,000
- Rhode Island, $398,000
- Maine, $668,000
