MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sent hundreds of millions of dollars to states so schools can test their water for lead. Exposure to lead has a bearing on children's health and development. But Molly Samuel from member station WABE in Atlanta reports that even with the testing paid for, some school districts are slow to take advantage of it.
(CROSSTALK)
MOLLY SAMUEL, BYLINE: Lead exposure can slow kids' development, according to the CDC. It can cause low IQs and make it hard for students to pay attention in school. One of the ways children can be exposed to lead is through drinking water if it's flowing through lead pipes or fixtures. So when officials at Gwinnett County Public Schools in suburban Atlanta found out about the federal lead testing program...
PATRICK BURKE: Yeah, we went all in.
SAMUEL: Patrick Burke manages operations at the district. With close to 180,000 students, Gwinnett is one of the biggest school systems in the country. The district decided to test more than 14,000 individual fixtures at all its schools.
BURKE: So we had people coming in 2, 3 in the morning sometimes because we had to be here before our cafeteria started doing their work.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER RUNNING)
UNIDENTIFIED WATER TESTER: So we know this water does not have dangerous levels of lead in it, coming out of the tested...
BURKE: This one's been tested. Correct.
UNIDENTIFIED WATER TESTER: Yeah.
SAMUEL: This sink in an elementary school classroom used to also have a bubbler, one of those curved water fountain fixtures. When they did the testing, there was lead detected in the water coming out of it. So the district did a relatively quick and easy fix - they removed the problem bubbler.
KEVIN MCOMBER: Replacing those fixtures is a fairly low-cost way to help resolve a problem.
SAMUEL: Kevin McOmber is the regional administrator for the U.S. EPA in the southeast. Nationwide, the EPA has distributed more than $200 million over the past several years. Here in Georgia, less than 1 in 4 public schools has enrolled in the program.
MCOMBER: I'd love to see it go faster. But we're making progress, and that's what's important.
SAMUEL: States can choose how to handle the funding. The state that's done far and away the most testing is North Carolina. That's in part because it's required by state law. In most other states, like here in Georgia, it's voluntary. Jennifer Hoponick Redmon is with RTI International, a nonprofit that helps with the testing in Georgia. She says, at first, her group had to do a lot of convincing to get school officials interested in the program.
JENNIFER HOPONICK REDMON: Funding is one concern.
SAMUEL: Because even if the testing is free, school leaders worry the fix could be expensive if it's more than just a problem faucet.
REDMON: Another concern certainly is potential outcry.
SAMUEL: Like, will there be negative media coverage? Or will parents worry it's not a good place to send their kids? But Redmon says, recently, there has been more interest among school leaders.
REDMON: Not knowing whether there's lead in your drinking water or not does not mean it is not actually there (laughter). And I think our data have shown that it is pretty commonly found.
SAMUEL: Redmon says more than 90% of schools in Georgia that got tested had at least one fixture that exceeded the American Academy of Pediatrics' guidelines for lead.
REDMON: Once we find it, we can fix it.
SAMUEL: And the EPA has changed how the money can be used. Now it can go toward fixes, too, not just testing for lead. Redmon thinks that could make a difference for districts that had been hesitant. Patrick Burke with Gwinnett Schools says all their testing was worth it.
BURKE: We can't do anything about the past. All we can do is do what's right about the future.
SAMUEL: And that, he says, means doing what's right for kids.
For NPR News, I'm Molly Samuel in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS SONG, "LEAD ME HOME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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