EPA announces funding to reduce lead in drinking water at schools and childcare facilities

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on June 13, 2025, a total of $26 million in funding for states and territories to address lead in drinking water at schools and childcare facilities. Since 2018, EPA has provided over $200 million to help reduce exposure to lead in drinking water where children learn and play. 

“Lead is a neurotoxin that can negatively impact American children,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in a press release. “With $26 million in funding this year, more schools will be able to identify sources of lead in their water and take action so that our nation’s children can focus on learning, playing, and developing skills that will maximize their potential and make our nation stronger.”

EPA will allocate grant funding to states and territories through the Voluntary School and Child Care Lead Testing and Reduction Grant Program. Total allotment amounts for each of the 50 states, DC, and four territories can be found on the grant website. Tribal allotments for this program will be released separately. 

In addition to this grant program, EPA’s Training, Testing, and Taking Action program (3Ts) provides information and recommendations to help states and local authorities build voluntary programs to reduce lead in drinking water. Since 2019, this effort has helped over 20,000 childcare facilities and nearly 13,000 schools have their water tested for lead with over 1,300 childcare facilities and 2,500 schools completing remediation work.

With the help of this grant, Texas has sampled approximately 97% of the approximately 1,552 school and childcare facilities they planned to test. This success is thanks to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s free program to conduct voluntary sampling and analysis for lead in drinking water. In Colorado, their Test and Fix Water for Kids program has protected approximately 600,000 children from lead exposure in drinking water. New Hampshire leads the country with 360 schools with replaced drinking water apparatus. Remediation actions were taken on an additional 80 childcare facilities.