Urge U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to address the problem of toxic drinking water in the nation's schools
 Goal: 10,000 • Progress: 6,160  |
Sponsored by: The Child Health Site
Over the last decade, the drinking water at thousands of schools across the country has been found to contain unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and dozens of other toxins that put the nation's students at risk. Contaminants have surfaced at public and private schools in all 50 states, but the problem has gone largely unmonitored by the federal government, even as the number of water safety violations has multiplied. Urge U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson to address the widespread problem of toxic drinking water in the nation's schools. Sign the petition below and tell a friend. |
In recent years, students at a Worthington, Minn., elementary school and a 6-year old girl in Seattle experienced severe stomach aches and nausea after drinking water tainted with lead and copper. Below are the findings from a database analysis showing federal drinking water violations from 1998 to 2008 in schools with their own water supplies:
• Water in about 100 school districts and 2,250 schools breached federal safety standards.
• Those schools and districts racked up more than 5,550 separate violations. In 2008, the EPA recorded 577 violations, up from 59 in 1998 - an increase that officials attribute mainly to tougher rules.
• California, which has the most schools of any state, also recorded the most violations with 612, followed by Ohio (451), Maine (417), Connecticut (318) and Indiana (289).
• Nearly half the violators in California were repeat offenders. One elementary school in Tulare County, in the farm country of the Central Valley, broke safe-water laws 20 times.
• The most frequently cited contaminant was coliform bacteria, followed by lead and copper, arsenic and nitrates.
Urge U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson to address the widespread problem of toxic drinking water in the nation's schools. Sign the petition below and tell a friend.
Dear U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, I urge you to address the widespread problem of toxic drinking water in the nation's schools. The EPA is responsible for overseeing the safety of our nation's drinking water systems, but it has not taken concrete actions towards a reliable national strategy for monitoring schools' water. The current process that requires local schools to test and report problems to the state, and then to the local government, is not adequate and prevents the EPA from reliably identifying the worst offenders, carrying out enforcement, and removing unsafe water from our schools. Scientists say the current testing requirements also fail to detect dangerous toxins such as lead, which can cause damage to major organs and may retard children's learning abilities. It is very important for the EPA to act quickly to address any report of pollution in the water our children drink, as supplies at thousands of schools have been found to contain unsafe levels of lead, pesticides, and dozens of other toxics. This problem must be fixed so that it our schools will never have contaminated water again, and parents can rest assured that their children will be safe. Please act now! |
| Jul 28, 2010 Donna Karwick Isn't water a basic necessity, let's fix this before healthcare cost more for drinking contaiminated water and making people sick. |
| Jul 27, 2010 (Name not displayed) |
| Jul 27, 2010 Paula Redmond |
| Jul 27, 2010 Juli Bouvet |
| Jul 27, 2010 Nora Love |
| Jul 27, 2010 Lauri DesMarais |
| Jul 27, 2010 Gretta Elemani |
| Jul 26, 2010 Emily Dykes |
| Jul 26, 2010 (Name not displayed) |
| Jul 26, 2010 Suzie Healy it is an outrage when school water fountains have a disclaimer that anyone drinking from the fountain has a high risk of cancer!!!!! |
| Jul 26, 2010 Devin Hardee |
| Jul 25, 2010 Kimberly Carlisle |
| Jul 25, 2010 Kaeli Peoples |
| Jul 25, 2010 (Name not displayed) |
| Jul 25, 2010 Jennifer Farmer |
| Jul 25, 2010 constance rodriguez |
| Jul 24, 2010 Candace Fisher |
| Jul 24, 2010 Maria Victoria Cernuda |
| Jul 24, 2010 (Name not displayed) |
| Jul 23, 2010 Michelle Baker |
| Jul 23, 2010 Kimmy Mazulo |
| Jul 22, 2010 Kelsey Harmer |
| Jul 22, 2010 Trisha Jachlewski |
| Jul 22, 2010 Heather High |
| Jul 22, 2010 Nikki Perillo |
| Jul 21, 2010 Noel Dillard |
| Jul 21, 2010 Ann-Louise Chladil |
| Jul 21, 2010 Michelle Dungjen Safe Water for Children...do we REALLY need to ask...? |
| Jul 20, 2010 nicole Rosato |
| Jul 20, 2010 Thomas Garrett |
| Jul 19, 2010 (Name not displayed) |
| Jul 19, 2010 theresa rowe |
| Jul 19, 2010 Virginia Carlson |
| Jul 19, 2010 Corey Allen |
| Jul 19, 2010 Kim Vogel |
| Jul 18, 2010 Barbara Carrera |
| Jul 18, 2010 (Name not displayed) |
| Jul 18, 2010 Shannon Griffin |
| Jul 18, 2010 Michael Branaman |
| Jul 18, 2010 Stacy Grubb |
| Jul 18, 2010 (Name not displayed) |
| Jul 17, 2010 (Name not displayed) |
| Jul 17, 2010 Ricki Rutley Unreasonable to think that clean water isn't mandatory and regulated in our schools. |
| Jul 17, 2010 Leslie ODonnell |
| Jul 17, 2010 maureen oshea |
| Jul 17, 2010 jami mcpherson |
| Jul 16, 2010 (Name not displayed) |
| Jul 16, 2010 Heather Swindell |
| Jul 16, 2010 Marlena Cherowitzo |
| Jul 16, 2010 Felisa Suarez Nuff said |
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