PROVIDENCE, RI -- U.S. Senator Jack Reed is welcoming $336,000 in new federal funding for Rhode Island to test for lead in drinking water at schools and child care facilities.  The federal funds will pay for analytical water testing for schools and child care facilities, and help communities develop and implement plans to reduce lead in drinking water and communicate to parents, staff, and the larger school community.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced today the release of $26 million in funding to help communities across the country get the lead out of schools and day care centers that serve children.  The money flowing to the Ocean State today stems from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that Senator Reed helped champion. 

Overall, Congress included $15 billion to replace lead pipes nationwide, and set aside $200 million for lead testing and remediation in schools and child care facilities.

Lead can leach from pipes and taint water.  No amount of lead is safe, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and consuming it can lead to behavioral and learning problems in children, as well as heart, kidney, and reproductive issues in adults.

“We must ensure every child has a safe and healthy environment to learn and grow.  When kids drink from the water fountain at school or in day care they deserve clean, healthy water that passes every test.  This new federal grant will help identify potential sources of contamination and remove lead from water in schools and child care facilities,” said Senator Reed, a member of the Appropriations Committee who helped authorize the federal funding for lead testing in school and child care facilities' drinking water under a section of the national Water Infrastructure Improvement (WIIN) Act.  “This is a health and wellness issue and it is also an education issue because ensuring kids have access to clean, safe, lead-free water means they perform better in the classroom and get a healthy start to life.”

Water can be treated with chemicals to prevent lead from entering the water, but the only way to eradicate the threat of lead completely is to remove the pipes themselves.

Congress banned the use of lead pipes in 1986 under the Safe Drinking Water Act.  But today, as water travels through older pipes that were not replaced, lead may accumulate.

Last year, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) teamed up with the University of Rhode Island (URI) Cooperative Extension Water Quality Program, and the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) on a voluntary statewide program to test K-12 school drinking water for lead. The program is funded by the WIIN Act and results of water testing at local schools across the state may be found at the RIDOH website.