Community leaders call on Houston ISD to get the lead out of school drinking water

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Taran Volckhausen

Former Communications Associate, The Public Interest Network

New analysis finds lead remains pervasive in schools

TexPIRG Education Fund

HOUSTON – Twenty two religious, consumer, environmental, health, community and school leaders wrote Houston ISD Superintendent House today urging him to take action to protect kids from lead in school drinking water. The letter comes alongside a new analysis showing 84% of Houston ISD schools still have lead contamination of drinking water even after some remediation efforts by the district. 

“Having clean, safe drinking water is a basic human right,” said Claire Ganschow, TexPIRG’s Get The Lead Out campaign coordinator. “Kids shouldn’t have to worry about what’s in their water at school, they should be focusing on learning and having fun.” 

Lead threatens our kids’ health, especially how they learn, grow and behave. According to the EPA, “in children, low levels of [lead] exposure have been linked to damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing and impaired formation and function of blood cells.” Medical researchers estimate that more than 24 million children in America today risk losing IQ points due to low levels of lead. They have also linked low levels of lead to ADHD, antisocial behaviors and depression.

“With major funding now available to HISD, we have an unprecedented opportunity to “get the lead out” and ensure safe drinking water for our kids,” said Reverend James Caldwell, founder and CEO of the Coalition of Community Organizations and one of the letter signers. “We hope Superintendent House will work quickly to protect our kids from this threat.” 

TexPIRG has written a letter signed by 22 community leaders urging HISD to protect children’s health. Signers include Rev. James L. Caldwell, Founder and Director of Coalition of Community Organizations, Angelica Razo, Texas State Director of Mi Familia Vota, and Dr. Sarat Munjuluri, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. 

The water crisis in Flint, Michigan prompted many around the country to wonder whether lead was in their local drinking water as well. While at the time no state or federal law required it, during the 2016-2017 school year, Houston Independent School District (HISD) voluntarily administered testing of drinking water at most schools to determine the potential for lead exposure in Houston schools.

The results were alarming, with lead found in at least one water tap at 84% of HISD schools tested. HISD worked to remediate at the 34 schools where lead levels exceeded 20 parts per billion (ppb). However, a new analysis, Unleaded Education: Ensuring clean water for Houston ISD, shows that lead in the drinking water of Houston schools remains a serious and pervasive problem. A review of data on the HISD website for lead testing in December 2021 found that 216 schools have at least one tap where lead was detected, over one third of taps tested were positive for lead contamination, and 57 schools in the district have ten or more water taps with lead above 1 ppb. Milne Elementary had 44 different sources of lead, the most in the district. 

Clearly, lead contamination remains a serious problem at HISD schools. To ensure safe drinking water at school, HISD should proactively replace all fountains with water bottle/hydration stations equipped with filters that remove lead, and install filters at all other taps used for cooking or drinking. This solution eliminates one common source of lead (fountains) and captures lead coming from plumbing or pipes. Moreover, kids tend to drink more water when they have access to hydration stations, so there’s an added health benefit to this solution. 

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