Lead in Public School Water

High exposures

A high toxic dose of lead poisoning to all ages can lead to seizures, coma, confusion, vomiting, muscle weakness, and dizziness. In a child's case these symptoms can become permanent very easily whereas adults can get prescribed medicine from a hospital in order to bind the lead and get rid of it through excretory waste.

Excessive lead levels

Beyond Flint, a recent study has found that excessive levels of lead were found in over 2,000 water systems across all 50 states. If we were to put this into perspective, Flint, Michigan was only considered one water system out of the 2,000 during this study. At least 20 schools in Flint were affected by this one case. Now if you multiply the twenty schools by the 2,000 water systems which have excessive levels of lead in them, that would mean that 40,000 schools across the United States are unsafe for students to consume their water.

Intro Questions

Has your school sent home a letter warning your family about lead poisoning? If so, do you still drink out of the drinking fountains anyways despite the warning?

Convincing step

If we can get this situation noticed more on the media than no child will get left behind. Every single state should require blood tests for children in order to make sure that they don't have lead poisoning and should require their school's to test their water several times a year. Together, as a united front, we can help make sure that every child is safe using their school's facilities. I urge you to take a stand against lead contamination in water today.

Intro Thesis Statement

If your answer is yes to either of these questions then you should really start becoming aware of how dangerous lead exposure actually is.

Flint, Michigan

In Flint, Michigan the city began taking water from the Flint River instead of Lake Huron in 2014 because it was more cost friendly. The problem with this situation is that the corrosion control treatments required by the Environmental Protection Agency's Lead and Copper rule were discontinued for reasons unknown. Many children were tested for lead exposure and the lead in their blood levels soared through the roof. Many lawsuits have been filed which means that Flint's financial problems are about to become much worse in the near future.

Solution Step

In order to solve this dangerous problem, we need to take action and get Congress to notice how serious this situation actually is. We need Congress to help fund schools to replace their water pipes and fountains.

Public School Systems

Recently, public school systems across the U.S. have found high levels of lead of contamination in their water due to very old lead bearing pipes. In fact , the vast majority of the nation's schools are not legally required by states or the federal government to test their water on a regular basis. Most districts don't make this a priority because they are cash-starved and understaffed.

Why is lead testing being pushed?

The only reason why lead testing has been recently pushed by parents and teachers in many states is because the Flint case about contaminated water went viral and made it to national news!

Lead Exposure to Children

You might be wondering how dangerous lead exposure to children may be and the obvious answer is extremely dangerous. First off, since a child's brain is still developing, lead can lead to intellectual disabilities such as behavioral problems, growth delays, and problems with hearing.