With reports in the news of high lead levels in the drinking water at schools, the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust on Tuesday announced a $2 million effort with the Department of Environmental Protection to make sure every school in the state can test its water for the presence of lead.
The Clean Water Trust’s board of trustees voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to provide $2 million from its administrative expense fund to pay for a new MassDEP initiative to ensure that school districts can sample the taps and fountains in their schools.
“I am proud to leverage the expertise of my office to address the issue of lead in our schools’ drinking water,” Treasurer Deb Goldberg, who chairs both the Clean Water Trust and the School Building Authority, said in a statement. “These funds allow for us to test more schools and identify where the need is for further investigation to make sure our children are drinking safe, clean water.”
The funding is expected to enable as many as 1,750 schools to design and execute a water testing program. DEP said the funding will allow them to get the program up and running this spring.
“We are reaching out to school officials to take advantage of this initiative, which provides expert help to the schools,” DEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg, who is also a member of the Clean Water Trust Board, said in a statement. “MassDEP and its partners will provide technical assistance and free lab analysis of local water samples, focusing on those most in need of assistance.”