On February 13, Gov. Tom Wolf announced $1.74 million in PA Investment Infrastructure Authority funding will be made available for a grant program to test for lead in drinking water at schools and child care centers.

The PennVEST funding is being administered in coordination with the departments of Education, Human Services, Health, and Environmental Protection.

The next step is to issue a competitive RFP in the coming weeks for interested parties to coordinate voluntary testing in targeted schools and child care facilities throughout Pennsylvania.

The Department of Education has a list of approximately 3,000 targeted facilities that:

-- Have a high propensity for lead contamination,

-- Serve large numbers of disadvantaged populations, and/or

-- Serve large numbers of lower-income children under the age of 6.

The result of the testing, which is expected to conclude by the end of the first quarter of 2021, will equip Commonwealth agencies with accurate information on the scope of lead exposure among our most vulnerable populations.

“To build a better, healthier Pennsylvania, we need to know the extent of problems such as lead in drinking water, so I am especially pleased that we received this EPA funding,” Gov. Wolf said. “Testing the water of thousands of child care centers and schools will give us a benchmark of the work we need to do next for removing lead from water and protecting our vulnerable school children.”

The grant comes through the EPA’s Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act, specifically Section 1459B of the Safe Drinking Water Act, which authorizes grant funding for reducing lead in drinking water. The EPA funding will cover 100 percent of the project cost of water testing.

For more information on water infrastructure funding, visit the PennVEST website.

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Gov. Wolf Announces $1.1 Billion Plan To Address Lead, Other Hazards In Schools, Water Systems, Day Care Centers, Homes

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[Posted: February 13, 2020]

2/17/2020