Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) is pushing legislation that would help school districts deal with old pipes that are leaching lead into school’s water systems.
Schumer says the $20 million federal grant program was included in the Water Resource Development Act. He says it’s necessary because school districts need help to test water for lead.
"Each test isn’t that expensive, it’s about 50 bucks. But if you’re a large school district -- the city of Syracuse, town of DeWitt -- and you have a whole bunch of schools, and you have to test each line, because some have newer pipes and some have older pipes, it gets to be expensive,” the senator said.
Schumer says the money would help encourage schools to start the testing process if they haven’t already. The legislation would also help schools pay for replacing pipes that are discovered to be leaching lead into the water system.
“Pipes that were put in after 1986 don’t have lead. But we have an older infrastructure in central New York, so it’s a serious problem. And it’s got to take dollars,” said Schumer.
Lead has been discovered in water in the Ithaca City School District, and more recently in some sinks at the Jordan-Elbridge Central School District. High lead levels in children can cause developmental delays.
