The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality recently announced expansion of a program that helps schools and childcare centers test their drinking water for lead and other contaminants. The commission has established a self-guided portal that informs schools and childcare centers regarding how they can have samples of their water drinking tested for the presence of harmful materials.
Any Texas public school or state-regulated childcare facility is eligible, but priority is given to those in low-income or underserved areas such as the Rio GrandeValley, where most students qualify for national free school meals programs or offer Head Start programs. Facilities that teach and care for children 6 years old an younger or are housed in older buildings that might have pipes that used lead paint, solder or other targeted materials.
It’s a welcome effort and we encourage such institutions and facilities to take advantage of the free and voluntary program.
The city of Flint, Mich., is still dealing with the effects of lead that was found in the city’s drinking supply in 2014. The news created a nationwide alarm that went beyond outrage over the discovery and missteps that were taken in the aftermath.
Like many agencies across the country, the TCEQ alerted public agencies around the state, and helped provide water testing to determine if they contained lead, copper or other hazardous materials.
Lead had been used extensively in various materials including paint that covered school and home walls, clay water pipes that once were the norm and solder that held many copper and other metal pipes together. The federal government banned the commercial use of lead in 1978, but many schools and homes in the Valley and elsewhere were build before then an could contain lead, which has been linked neurological disorders and problems with childhood development.
The Environmental Protection Agency in 2020 ordered a comprehensive review of drinking water systems in all elementary schools and childcare centers across the country, The directive called for 20% of every district’s elementary schools to be tested each year until all schools in the district had been checked. However, Congress was unable to pass a bill that would help fund such tests.
Fortunately, the EPA and TCEQ now have joined to fund the Texas project.
Private, licensed childcare center operators especially should utilize the program. Many such centers are established in former or current residences, some of which might have been built before the lead ban took effect. The testing program does not issue any penalties, is free and helps ensure that the water is safe to drink. This isn’t a matter of the quality of our city water supplies, which frequently are tested for contaminants; old pipes that lead to our faucets could contain hazardous materials that could leach into the water that passes through them.
Residents and school officials should take advantage of any effort to mitigate the risk of harming our children, if they haven’t already. Information and registration regarding the program can be found at website tceq.texas.gov.
