A report came out this week by the Associated Press stating that over the past 10 years, the drinking water in schools across the country have been tested and found to contain unsafe levels of a variety toxins including lead and pesticides. The report said that “contaminants have surfaced at public and private schools in all 50 states – in small towns and inner cities alike.”

It seems as though this has been an ongoing problem and the EPA just can’t keep up with it. Actually, that’s suggesting that the EPA has been trying to do something. But according to the report, the issue has basically gone unaddressed. Not good.

Apparently, schools with well water have the most significant problem. They comprise about 8-11% of the nation’s 132,500 schools. According to the report, about 1 in 5 of schools with their own water supply were found to have “violated the Safe Drinking Water Act in the past decade, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency analyzed by the AP.” But that’s not to say schools with public water supplies are safe. At particular risk are older schools where lead levels can be high.

According to the EPA, the incidence of contamination has increased dramatically over the past decade largely because they have adopted stricter standards regarding what is considered unsafe. Hmm – that sounds like a pretty lame excuse. Clearly they adopted stricter standards for a reason, right? So it’s not as though there isn’t an issue. If anything, they’re suggesting that it has been an issue for a substantially longer time.

Of course, there is no easy fix for this. The EPA does not have the authority to require school systems to test their water. Instead, the responsibility is spread across many local, state and federal agencies. And we all know how well they work together!