EPA will more aggressively watch school systems repeatedly violating safe drinking water law

EPA to unveil new policies on water at schools

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it will focus more resources on small water systems nationwide in an effort to improve the enforcement of safe drinking water laws.

The agency will also move repeat violators to the top of the list for stricter monitoring and pay special attention to ensure children are not exposed to toxic water supplies at school drinking fountains.

The new policies were announced as the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing to examine factors that have contributed to unsafe levels of lead and other contaminants in the drinking water of thousands of U.S. schools.

The hearing follows an Associated Press investigation showing that roughly one in five schools with its own water supply violated the Safe Drinking Water Act within the past decade.

“Protecting children’s health is a high priority,” said Peter Silva, assistant administrator for water at the EPA. “To make any real difference, we know we must assist the small systems, because 96 percent of all health-based violations occur at systems serving less than 10,000 people.”

EPA officials said they would begin targeting repeat violators of the safe drinking water law in January, but Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she needed more specifics about how schools’ water systems would be monitored for compliance. Now, she said the agency doesn’t really track the schools.

“There’s a lot of bureaucratic talk here,” Boxer said. “I’m not confident we are now ready to go.”

Boxer said state and local water agencies are the first line of defense to ensure that children have safe drinking water. However, the EPA is critically important in setting standards and in ensuring that state and local governments address problems with their systems.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said Congress can’t expect small communities to prove safe drinking water if they don’t have the resources to meet their infrastructure needs.

Associated Press staff writer Garance Burke in Fresno, Calif. contributed to this report.