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Michigan has no laws protecting students from lead contamination in drinking water at schools.
Nearly a decade after the Flint water crisis began, the state has failed to enact any laws or regulations to protect students from lead contamination in drinking water at schools, according to a new national report.
The inaction earned Michigan a failing grade in curbing lead contamination at schools.
The report from the Environment America Research & Policy Center and the U.S. Public Research Interest Group Education Fund assigned an “F” to 27 states.
Last year, the Michigan Senate passed two bills with bipartisan support that would have required schools and childcare centers to filter drinking water for contaminants like lead. The legislation, dubbed “Filter First,” would also have ordered schools and childcare centers to develop a drinking water safety plan, install filtered bottle-filling stations and faucets, and post signs near a water outlet indicating whether water is safe for human consumption.
The legislation, however, died in the state House.
Lawmakers are expected to reintroduce the bills this year.
If approved, Michigan would become the first state to enact “Filter First” laws.
“If both bills become law, they would boost the Great Lakes State’s grade from a F to an A,” the report states.
The report recommends that states and school districts replace fountains with water stations that have filters certified to remove lead. Researchers also encouraged schools to stop using plumbing and fixtures that leach lead into water and to fully replace all lead service lines.
Schools should also require testing at all water outlets used for drinking or cooking, the report states.
Lead is highly toxic to the brain, nervous system, and other organs, especially in infants and young children. Even at low levels, lead is linked to reduced IQ, ADHD, irreversible brain damage, classroom problems, and even criminality and poverty. Lead can also cause headaches, hearing loss, and hyperactive behavior.
There is no safe level of lead, and even a small amount can cause irreversible damage, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Although lead poisoning is not as pervasive as it was two decades ago, it’s still a serious public health threat that disproportionately affects Black children. About 1,500 kids under the age of 6 in Detroit test positive for elevated levels of lead every year, far more than any other city or county in the state. Of those tested, about 7% are diagnosed with lead poisoning, which is nearly three times the state average.
The real number of lead-poisoned children in Detroit is likely much higher because only about a third of the city’s kids under the age of 6 are tested.
The Flint water crisis began when the city, while under state emergency management, switched its drinking water supply to the Flint River to save money in 2014. The decision created one of the nation’s worst public health disasters in decades, contaminating drinking water with dangerous levels of lead.
State officials ignored signs of serious health hazards in the predominantly Black city and failed to implement corrosion-control treatments, causing lead, iron, and rust to leach from aging pipes into the water supply.
At least 12 deaths have been tied to the water crisis.
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