By October 2024, water systems must have a list of all schools and licensed child care facilities built prior to 2014 in their service area.  In 2024 and during the following four years, systems must conduct sampling in at least 20 percent of the elementary schools (whether public, private, parochial, or charter), and at least 20 percent of the child care facilities identified until all such facilities have been tested.

​Systems must provide sampling upon request to elementary schools and child care facilities following this initial round of monitoring. Systems must contact child care facilities, elementary schools, and secondary schools on an annual basis to provide information on lead in water and alert them to the option to request lead sampling. The limited sampling (e.g., 5 outlets per school and 2 per child care facility) is not intended to comprehensively characterize lead levels but to engage the facility staff in considering lead in water.  

Opportunities to Accelerate Replacement

Working to remove LSLs from schools and child care facilities is important because young children are particularly vulnerable to lead. While typically schools will not rely on small diameter LSLs, it is possible that one is present (e.g., small annex in an older school), and perhaps more likely at a child care facility, especially a smaller facility in a converted home or other older structure. The engagement required by the LCR provides an opportunity to elevate the issue of LSL identification and, if present, replacement.
Communities may consider:

• Cross-referencing the LSL inventory and the child care and school lists to identify and prioritize replacement of LSLs at such locations.
• Investigating for and replacing LSLs before initiating required child care and schools testing at fixtures to ensure that results provide useful information to pinpoint the source of lead. Be prepared for samples from old water fountains to have lead, especially in buildings with low use relative to their building plumbing size, such as churches.
• Where service line status cannot be verified, prioritizing monitoring in facilities at higher risk of having an LSL.
• Incorporating information about LSLs in the community in education and outreach materials distributed to schools and child care facilities.
• Organizing targeted outreach to education and child care leaders about lead and lead risk reduction, including LSL replacement.
• Engaging local public health departments and local NGOs linked to public health and child care communities to facilitate outreach.
• Encouraging state child care licensing agencies to require submittal of certification of water service line material to the state and the water supplier upon initiation or renewal of a child care license, and support replacement if lead is present. Many state child care licensing standards already require that surfaces within the facility be lead-free, but are focused on paint. This may also apply to schools, especially charter schools.
• Leveraging existing networks to engage facilities that may have higher risk scenarios (e.g, child care facilities in older churches or large commercial re-development projects).
• Providing schools and child cares with guidance on point-of-use filters. 

Resources

• Child Care Facilities and Schools
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water Toolkit
• NCHH: Lead-Safe Toolkit for Home-Based Child Care
• Harvard: Early Adopters: State Approaches to Testing School Drinking Water for Lead in the United States
• EDF: State requirements for lead in water testing at child care
• LeadCare Illinois: Example of state testing 
• EPA: Consumer Tool for Identifying POU Drinking Water Filters Certified to Reduce Lead
• NSF International: Certified Product Listings for Lead Reduction