DECEMBER 20258IN MY OPINIONIn 2017, the California State Water Resources Control Board's Division of Drinking Water (DDW) required that water providers start to test for lead in kindergarten to 12th-grade school campuses. Previously, lead testing was only required in residential neighborhoods. However, a recent study from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that 10 to 12 percent of total lead exposure in young children, who are the most vulnerable population for lead poisoning, comes from drinking water, prompting DDW to act. Within a short period of time, DDW issued new permit amendments and later a regulation. With the long-standing commitment to protecting its customers' health and safety, Cal Water worked quickly to put a plan into place to test all 735 schools serving K-12 in its service areas. The first piece of the puzzle that Cal Water had to figure out was how many such schools it had in its service areas throughout the state. Obtaining all of this data required coordination of the utility's operations and engineering teams. Once a list of schools was determined, it was time to start communicating with the schools and educating the administrators about the water system and how to ensure the water coming through the plumbing fixtures at their school sites met lead limits. Cal Water had already started proactively planning prior to the new regulatory requirements. Then the State made testing a mandatory requirement through AB746,effective on January 1, 2018. The new law required water providers to conduct lead testing for all public schools by July 1, 2019.Cal Water's early planning efforts were influenced by the information emerging regarding the discovery of lead in the water in Flint, MI. Although the plan evolved over several months, the final product consisted of: ·Submitting a list of all schools that needed to be tested in its California service areas;·Creating a timeline and plan for testing all of these schools·Preparing training material for utility workers and school districts;By Sophie James, Vice President, Water Quality & Environmental Affairs, California Water Service LEAD TESTING IN SCHOOLS: A STUDY IN PLANNING AHEAD FOR COMPLIANCE Sophie James
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