Pittsburgh Public Schools Completes Groundbreaking Project to Minimize Threat of Lead in Water

PITTSBURGH – Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) proudly announced Monday the successful completion of its visionary “Filter First” project, aimed at enhancing the safety of students’ drinking water. Utilizing national best practices and technology, PPS removed every non-filtered drinking fountain in each of its school buildings across the District, replacing them with lead-filtering fountains and state-of-the-art water bottle-filling stations.

“Today marks a monumental achievement for the health and well-being of our students and staff,” said PPS Superintendent Dr. Wayne Walters, who, along with the statewide environmental group PennEnvironment, kicked off National Drinking Water Week with a celebratory event. “By prioritizing water safety through our ‘Filter First’ approach, we are reaffirming our commitment to providing nurturing school environments that foster learning and growth.”

Launched in 2016, the PPS “Drinking Water Quality Management Initiative,” set out to ensure all students and staff had access to high-quality drinking water, free from lead and other contaminants. At a time when federal, state, and local regulations lacked requirements for safeguarding water quality in schools, PPS took proactive measures to safeguard the health of its students.

Under the guidance of Sanjeeb Manandhar, PPS’ Environmental/Sustainability Manager, the District initiated a comprehensive testing protocol for all drinking water fountains and other outlets across its facilities. Simultaneously, dozens of new chilled lead-filtering water coolers were installed annually. Today, as part of the National Drinking Water Week celebration, district leaders, government officials, and environmental advocates gathered to commemorate the successful completion of the phased water fountain replacement project.

In total, PPS has installed 904 chilled lead-filtering drinking fountains and 391 filtered bottle filling stations across 70 school buildings, field houses and administrative buildings. The District also added 175 lead-filtering sink outlets to early childhood education classrooms and select nurses’ offices.

“While studies show that lead is commonly found in school drinking water across Pennsylvania and the nation, the leadership of the Pittsburgh Public Schools shows that it doesn’t have to be that way,” noted PennEnvironment Executive Director David Masur. “Now is the time for school districts across Pennsylvania and the nation to follow Pittsburgh’s lead and get the lead out of school drinking water once and for all.”

The health risks from lead exposure are well known: This heavy metal is a highly potent neurotoxin. Long-term exposure — even at very low levels — causes permanent damage to the brain, kidneys, and other organs. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of lead. It harms their learning, development and behavior. Researchers estimate that the 170 million or so Americans alive today who were exposed to high lead levels in early childhood lost nearly 5 IQ points each, on average. Lead is so toxic that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a goal of zero lead in drinking water.

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The PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center is dedicated to protecting our air, water and open spaces. We work to protect the places we love, advance the environmental values we share, and win real results for our environment. For more information, visit www.pennenvironmentcenter.org.