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How Far Will Montana’s Push to Remove Lead from School Drinking Water Go?_我的网站
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By Keely Larson | KFF Health News
But even with these two new pools of money intended to last two years, the state’s schools may struggle to remove all but the most dangerous sources of lead, considering about half the schools that tested their water between July 2020 and February 2022 found high lead levels. Medical experts say no amount of lead is safe to ingest.
“When you start replacing faucets and drinking fountains in the hundreds of schools that we have in Montana, that gets eaten up pretty quickly,” said Democratic state Rep. Paul Tuss, who added the state funding to an infrastructure bill passed this spring.
If the total were divided evenly among the approximately 590 schools that need to meet the state’s new lead testing rules, each school would receive less than $8,000 from the state to test and upgrade its faucets, pipes and water fountains. The state already knows that 110 schools have had at least one water fixture with lead levels of 15 parts per billion or higher, three times the level that requires action under Montana rules.
Most schools with lead levels over the state limit could address their “exceedances” with the state money, according to state Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson Moira Davin. “Our plan is to address as many schools as possible with this funding,” she said.
But part of the challenge for Montana is that it doesn’t yet know how extensive a problem its schools have. More than a fifth of the state’s schools facing the new rules — 129 facilities — hadn’t completed any sampling as of Aug. 3, said Greg Montgomery, the director of the department’s Lead in Schools program. And replacing a single school’s pipes can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We are not talking about solving the whole problem here,” said Levin, who worked on lead exposure during her nearly 40 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Lead is particularly harmful to children and can lead to brain and nervous system damage and slowed development and growth. It typically gets into drinking water in schools through piping or fixtures. A 2020 state rule requires schools to test water supplies every three years. If lead concentrations surpass 5 parts per billion, fixtures must be addressed — and shut off if higher than 15 ppb.
Jessica Reyes, an economics professor at Amherst College, said prioritizing fountains or pipes with high lead levels after a “first draw” test could help a lot. The test measures lead in water the first time a faucet is turned on for the day, after the water’s been sitting in a pipe all night. That sample provides the best data to pinpoint the greatest risks, she said.
Running all faucets for a few minutes before kids get to school is quite protective for kids, Reyes added, because the quantity of lead diminishes as the water runs. But Reyes likes to imagine a kindergartner who gets to school early for free breakfast and drinks from a water fountain before anyone in the building clears the pipes.
“Everything kids need to grow — lead is the opposite of those,” Reyes said.
Montana officials will decide how to distribute the money from the legislature, reimbursing schools for costs such as installing new faucets, water filters, plumbing and water bottle filling stations. The federal grant, meanwhile, will be used for covering costs related to testing, Montgomery said.
Schools will have to participate in the state’s Lead in Schools program by sampling their drinking water to get any of the state funding, he said, and they won’t be able to use the money on projects completed before the state bill was signed into law.
Montgomery said the amount available to schools would depend on whether they have any fixtures over the “action level,” or fixtures with lead concentrations over 5 ppb. Funding will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis, he said.
Even if a school doesn’t have high samples of lead in its test results, Montgomery said, it could seek money to install water bottle filling stations with filters. Schools could also use the money for larger projects such as replacing piping, but, Montgomery said, the state will set a limit on how much each school can get. And, he said, it’s unlikely the money will be able to cover something like a $100,000 pipe replacement project.
The goal is to make money available to all schools, regardless of size, and ensure a couple of schools aren’t “gobbling” the entire amount, Montgomery said. That means schools with extensive issues will likely need to pick which areas to fix.
“We want to make sure the small schools have equal footing as the large schools,” Montgomery said.
Many Montana schools have already launched remediation projects after receiving high lead results.
One sink at Skyview High School in Billings had one of the highest levels of lead detected in schools across the state. Scott Reiter, the executive director of facilities for Billings Public Schools, said the sink was in a control room in the auditorium and people rarely used it. After the results came in, the fixture was removed to make the sink unusable.
On a larger scale, he said, all cold-water piping for drinking and sinks was replaced at Rimrock Learning Center in Billings last summer. Reiter said the school had been remodeled and all fixtures replaced about five years ago, so when lead was detected all over the school, it was clear it wasn’t just one fixture.
“We knew that it had to be in the lines,” Reiter said.
Reiter said the school district used leftover money from a 2013 elementary school district bond to replace Rimrock’s pipes, which he estimated cost $100,000.
While Reiter said he was disappointed costs from the Rimrock pipe replacements and other projects that have already happened couldn’t be reimbursed retroactively, he welcomed the state’s additional funding. “Any help to the schools for something like this is great,” he said.
The Great Falls Public Schools district also exemplifies how extensive and expensive such work can be. The district used $19,511 from an earlier $40,000 state allocation for drinking fountains, water bottle fillers and filters across schools in the district, said Brian Patrick, its director of business services and operations. He said the district also got 783 tests covered by the state, each costing $25.
His district used a bond passed in 2017 to fund a pipe replacement at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, where 23 tests came in at 5 ppb or higher. The pipes were replaced last summer, Patrick said, costing $411,252.
“It doesn’t get fixed in one fell swoop,” Patrick said.
This article was produced by KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF. It has been published with permission.
。 羊城学子爱广州
我为全运添光彩
每个孩子都是天马行空的艺术家
他们的眼睛善于捕捉最美好的风景
越秀公园和市儿童公园
邀请各位小朋友
一起画出心中的新年
做出奇思妙想的花灯
征集详情
为迎接即将到来的全运会，展现广州学子的创意与热情，弘扬传统文化，增强未成年人对本土文化的认同感与自豪感，在新年到来之际，特举办“羊城学子爱广州，我为全运添光彩”花灯创意设计方案征集活动。通过此次活动，旨在激发孩子们的创新思维，促进传统文化的现代演绎，同时为全运会增添一抹亮丽的岭南文化色彩。
组织架构
主办单位：广州市越秀公园、广州市儿童公园
活动时间
作品征集时间：即日起至12月31日
征集对象及分组
1.广州市全体儿童及青少年
2.组别：
A组：学前组
B组：小学组
C组：中学组（含中职学校）
活动主题
“羊城学子爱广州，我为全运添光彩”—— 以花灯为载体，融合广州历史文化、自然风光、现代城市风貌等元素，展现广州学子对广州的深厚情感和对全运会的热切期盼。
作品要求
一、创意绘画类：
绘画作品名称+创意说明（不少于50字）+稿件（绘画格式不限，纸质手绘采取电子扫描形式，电子手绘需要提供矢量图，分辨率不低于600*600dpi）+作者个人介绍及联系方式。
二、手工花灯类：
1.参评的花灯必须由学生亲手制作，或与家长共同收集材料制作完成的手工花灯，能充分体现出春节节日氛围，凡购买的花灯一律取消参评资格。
2.注重作品的整体美感及环保意义，花灯大小适中，色彩搭配协调，制作工艺精美，材质不限。
3.作品具有一定的寓意。作品能充分体现学生的想象力与创造力，紧扣“羊城学子爱广州，我为全运添光彩”主题，展示对美好生活的向往与新年传统文化的传承。
投稿方式
一、创意绘画类：
将作者名字、年龄、学校、班级、联系方式、作品稿件及介绍，发送至广州市越秀公园官方邮箱：
[email protected]
二、手工花灯类：
将手工花灯作品（在作品边缘处或附卡片标注姓名、年龄、学校、班级、联系方式、作品简介）交至越秀公园东门门岗（小北花圈）。
B | 版权说明 1.参赛作品应为具有独立知识产权的原创作品。未在报刊、杂志、网站及其它媒体公开发表过。如有抄袭和其他侵权行为，一经发现，主办方将取消其参赛及获奖资格，有关法律责任由参赛者全部承担。 2.参赛过程中发生任何侵权行为均由参赛者自行负责，与大赛主办方无关。作品如有违背民族传统习俗、国家相关法律法规等情况，将采取一票否决制，不予入选。 3.参赛作品著作权归设计者所有，主办方对参赛作品享有在2025广州新春灯会活动举办期间的再创作权、使用权、展览权、发行权、信息网络传播权、汇编权等权利。 作品评选 主办单位将从征集作品中挑选出优秀作品，并在公众号上发布获奖名单。 奖项设置 创意绘画类与手工花灯类两组投稿分别评出： 学前组：一等奖3名，二等奖5名，三等奖8名，优秀奖若干名； 小学组：一等奖3名，二等奖5名，三等奖8名，优秀奖若干名； 中学组：一等奖3名，二等奖5名，三等奖8名，优秀奖若干名； 上述获奖人员分别颁发获奖证书及纪念品。 作品展示 创意绘画类优秀作品将有机会在广州市越秀公园、广州市儿童公园新媒体平台进行展示； 手工花灯优秀作品将有机会在广州市越秀公园和广州市区儿童公园内进行展示。 咨询电话：020-86661950 【END】。
C |
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