Provides for annual school lead-copper tap water testing; publishing of reports of contamination and abatement of such contamination

Title of bill

An act to amend the public health law and the education law, in relation to the water dispensed within public schools

Purpose

To protect children from the irreversible health effects caused by lead contamination by ensuring that the water children drink in schools is safe and free from lead by requiring school districts to conduct annual school lead-copper tap water testing to monitor for lead contamination.

Summary of provisions

Section 1: Amends the public health law by adding a new section 1110 that will require the commissioner of Health in conjunction with the commissioner of Education to prepare and publish a report based on the findings of the lead-copper tap water testing, and would require that the report be sent to the commissioner of education and be available to parents of children in the affected school.

Section 2: Amends 1102 of the public health law to include a finding of contamination pursuant to section 409-j of the education law.

Section 3 amends the education law by adding a new section 409-J which requires school lead-copper tap water testing to monitor for lead contamination and sets forth levels that would exceed those that are acceptable. It would also require the results to be transmitted to the commissioner of education and the commissioner of health. If contamination is found the school district shall;

- continue testing until test results are acceptable

- supply children with an adequate supply of potable water

- provide parents with written notification (which is explicitly spelled out) of test results, and district's plan to eliminate the source of lead exposure.

Section 4 is the effective date.

Justification

Research has clearly shown that lead in drinking water poses serious, irreversible health effects to children. Currently school facilities are required to provide "safe, potable water", but the regulations do not call for testing where the school is not the water supplier. The only way to ensure that the water is truly "safe and potable" is to require testing for lead and to mandate that the results of those tests be made public. It is also necessary to provide for the mandatory abatement of the cause of the lead contamination. It has been brought to my attention that a school district detected lead levels well above those set forth as acceptable by the EPA and the NY8 Public Health Law. There was documentation found of these findings, and it was revealed that these results were not reported to the EPA, the NYS Department of Health or the County Health Department. In this case the parents were not informed of the results and no attempt had been made to correct the cause of the lead.

Legislative history

S.3580 of 2008

Fiscal implications

None to the State.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.