Texas Schools Have Dangerous Levels of Lead in Drinking Water, Advocates Say

Texas is failing students by not doing enough to protect them from dangerous levels of lead in drinking water, representatives from environmental groups said Thursday.Nearly two-thirds of the 500 North Texas-area schools whose water quality is readily available have lead contamination, said Bay Scoggin, director of the Texas Public Interest Research Group. Statewide, about 70 percent of all schools tested have shown lead, the group found.“We can do better than that,” said Scoggin, standing outside of Dallas’ Bryan Adams High School.Scoggin praised the Dallas school district for voluntarily testing their water regularly and taking action when results show lead levels above 15 parts per billion. But he pointed out that the federal Environmental Protection Agency has stated that there’s no safe level of lead.Adams, for example, had results showing as much as 13 ppb at the school, Scoggin said.The EPA generally requires action if levels are at least 15 parts per billion, or ppb, in water though schools typically don’t have to meet that standard and aren’t required to test.  Continue reading...