EPA to brief Boxer on toxic drinking water in schools
Garance Burke
North County Times
10/05/2009
FRESNO ---- A California senator called on the head of the
Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to disclose how the
agency plans to address the widespread problem of toxic drinking
water in the nation's schools.
Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer wrote the agency in response to an
Associated Press investigation showing water supplies at thousands
of schools have been found to contain unsafe levels of lead,
pesticides and dozens of other toxics.
Contaminants have surfaced at public and private schools in all
50 states, and in small towns and inner cities alike over the last
decade. But the AP found the problem has gone largely unmonitored
by the federal government, even as the number of water safety
violations has multiplied.
Boxer, who chairs the Senate committee that oversees the EPA,
said she took action out of "deep concern" that polluted water
supplies could be harming school children as their young bodies are
developing.
"The EPA is responsible for overseeing the safety of our
nation's drinking water systems," Boxer wrote in a letter sent
Monday to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. "I am sure that you
recognize the importance of acting quickly to address any report of
pollution in the water our children drink."
An EPA spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
The AP's analysis focused on schools with wells, the 8 to 11
percent of the nation's schools for which the EPA collects drinking
water quality data.
In the past, EPA officials have said that schools with unsafe
water represent only a small percentage of the nation's 132,500
public and private schools. They also have said the agency lacks
the authority to require that all schools test their water, and can
only provide guidance on environmental practices.
EPA officials also acknowledge the agency's database of schools
in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act is plagued with errors
and omissions. The problem goes beyond schools that use wells,
since schools in Baltimore, Seattle and other large cities that
draw water from public utilities have shown contamination, as
well.
Citing a "lack of a national strategy for monitoring schools'
water," Boxer asked EPA officials to explain to her committee staff
how the agency oversees and enforces drinking water quality
rules.
