But even with these two new pools of money intended to last two years, the state’s schools may struggle to remove all but the most dangerous sources of lead, considering about half the schools that tested their water between July 2020 and February 2022 found high lead levels. Medical experts say no amount of lead is safe to ingest.
“When you start replacing faucets and drinking fountains in the hundreds of schools that we have in Montana, that gets eaten up pretty quickly,” said Democratic state Rep. Paul Tuss, who added the state funding to an infrastructure bill passed this spring.
If the total were divided evenly among the approximately 590 schools that need to meet the state’s new lead testing rules, each school would receive less than $8,000 from the state to test and upgrade its faucets, pipes and water fountains. The state already knows that 110 schools have had at least one water fixture with lead levels of 15 parts per billion or higher, three times the level that requires action under Montana rules.
Most schools with lead levels over the state limit could address their “exceedances” with the state money, according to state Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson Moira Davin. “Our plan is to address as many schools as possible with this funding,” she said.
But part of the challenge for Montana is that it doesn’t yet know how extensive a problem its schools have. More than a fifth of the state’s schools facing the new rules — 129 facilities — hadn’t completed any sampling as of Aug. 3, said Greg Montgomery, the director of the department’s Lead in Schools program. And replacing a single school’s pipes can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We are not talking about solving the whole problem here,” said Levin, who worked on lead exposure during her nearly 40 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Lead is particularly harmful to children and can lead to brain and nervous system damage and slowed development and growth. It typically gets into drinking water in schools through piping or fixtures. A 2020 state rule requires schools to test water supplies every three years. If lead concentrations surpass 5 parts per billion, fixtures must be addressed — and shut off if higher than 15 ppb.
Jessica Reyes, an economics professor at Amherst College, said prioritizing fountains or pipes with high lead levels after a “first draw” test could help a lot. The test measures lead in water the first time a faucet is turned on for the day, after the water’s been sitting in a pipe all night. That sample provides the best data to pinpoint the greatest risks, she said.
Running all faucets for a few minutes before kids get to school is quite protective for kids, Reyes added, because the quantity of lead diminishes as the water runs. But Reyes likes to imagine a kindergartner who gets to school early for free breakfast and drinks from a water fountain before anyone in the building clears the pipes.
“Everything kids need to grow — lead is the opposite of those,” Reyes said.
Montana officials will decide how to distribute the money from the legislature, reimbursing schools for costs such as installing new faucets, water filters, plumbing and water bottle filling stations. The federal grant, meanwhile, will be used for covering costs related to testing, Montgomery said.
Schools will have to participate in the state’s Lead in Schools program by sampling their drinking water to get any of the state funding, he said, and they won’t be able to use the money on projects completed before the state bill was signed into law.
Montgomery said the amount available to schools would depend on whether they have any fixtures over the “action level,” or fixtures with lead concentrations over 5 ppb. Funding will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis, he said.
Even if a school doesn’t have high samples of lead in its test results, Montgomery said, it could seek money to install water bottle filling stations with filters. Schools could also use the money for larger projects such as replacing piping, but, Montgomery said, the state will set a limit on how much each school can get. And, he said, it’s unlikely the money will be able to cover something like a $100,000 pipe replacement project.
The goal is to make money available to all schools, regardless of size, and ensure a couple of schools aren’t “gobbling” the entire amount, Montgomery said. That means schools with extensive issues will likely need to pick which areas to fix.
“We want to make sure the small schools have equal footing as the large schools,” Montgomery said.
Many Montana schools have already launched remediation projects after receiving high lead results.
One sink at Skyview High School in Billings had one of the highest levels of lead detected in schools across the state. Scott Reiter, the executive director of facilities for Billings Public Schools, said the sink was in a control room in the auditorium and people rarely used it. After the results came in, the fixture was removed to make the sink unusable.
On a larger scale, he said, all cold-water piping for drinking and sinks was replaced at Rimrock Learning Center in Billings last summer. Reiter said the school had been remodeled and all fixtures replaced about five years ago, so when lead was detected all over the school, it was clear it wasn’t just one fixture.
“We knew that it had to be in the lines,” Reiter said.
Reiter said the school district used leftover money from a 2013 elementary school district bond to replace Rimrock’s pipes, which he estimated cost $100,000.
While Reiter said he was disappointed costs from the Rimrock pipe replacements and other projects that have already happened couldn’t be reimbursed retroactively, he welcomed the state’s additional funding. “Any help to the schools for something like this is great,” he said.
The Great Falls Public Schools district also exemplifies how extensive and expensive such work can be. The district used $19,511 from an earlier $40,000 state allocation for drinking fountains, water bottle fillers and filters across schools in the district, said Brian Patrick, its director of business services and operations. He said the district also got 783 tests covered by the state, each costing $25.
His district used a bond passed in 2017 to fund a pipe replacement at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, where 23 tests came in at 5 ppb or higher. The pipes were replaced last summer, Patrick said, costing $411,252.
“It doesn’t get fixed in one fell swoop,” Patrick said.
This article was produced by KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF. It has been published with permission.
B | 完善各项工作制度，落实“三会一课”“党日+”制度，夯实党建基础，深入学习习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想，开展党纪学习教育活动，组织党员进社区开展志愿活动，以务实作风促进各项工作扎实开展。定期召开意识形态工作研判会议，开展《中国红十字会法》等法律法规知识学习，大力弘扬“人道、博爱、奉献”红十字精神。
人道救助 温暖传递无界限
南票区红十字会始终将人道救助作为重中之重。
C | 深入基层，了解群众需求，扎实推进“红十字博爱送温暖”活动，春节等传统节日期间为弱势群体发放救助物资，包括大米，豆油、家庭箱、电热毯等，把党和政府的关怀和温暖送到百姓身边。
此外，还积极发动互联网众筹活动。弘扬“人人可公益，公益为人人”的时代风尚，每年“5·8人道公益日”，都在全区发出募捐倡议，筹集资金，让全区爱心单位和爱心人士积极参与爱心捐赠。
D | 开展“博爱辽宁行、振兴新突破”专场网络公益活动，筹集到的资金用于救助符合条件的大病患儿，凝聚爱心力量，携手做好公益事业。严格执行互联网众筹AED项目资金，利用筹集资金购置了便携式AED机，成功投放3台AED设备在银行网点，真正做到惠及群众，服务便民。通过这些活动，红十字会不仅凝聚了爱心力量，更让红十字精神在群众心中生根发芽，形成了人人关心、支持红十字事业的良好氛围。
“三献”宣传 志愿服务显担当
南票区红十字会在“三献”（无偿献血、造血干细胞捐献、人体器官捐献）工作宣传上同样不遗余力。
E | 他们充分利用媒体平台，大力营造舆论氛围，提高公众对无偿献血和造血干细胞捐献的认识和参与度。同时，组织应急救援志愿服务队，为区里各种赛事和大型活动提供安全保障，用实际行动诠释了红十字精神的内涵。
在红十字博爱家园社区和会员单位企业发放宣传单，开展红十字会法、人体器官、造血干细胞捐献、无偿献血等知识宣传，引导更多爱心人士传递人间大爱、为生命续航。全区已有2例造血干细胞捐献者成功捐献。
F |
全面开展应急救护培训工作。举办“救护员（初级）培训班”，让参加培训的学员全部掌握急救技能，并获得培训证书。
G | 开展应急救护培训进机关、进乡村、进社区、进学校活动，进一步增强基层工作人员的急救意识和应对突发事件和意外伤害事故的自救互救能力。
洪灾响应 快速救援显真情
面对突如其来的自然灾害，南票区红十字会总是能够迅速响应，第一时间启动应急响应机制。
H | 去年8月20日，一场洪灾袭击了南票区，红十字会立即成立工作小组，紧急调配人力物力投入抗洪救灾工作。
在短时间内，他们筹集并发放了大量救援物资，包括食品、饮用水、棉被等，为受灾群众提供了急需的生活物品。
I | 在这场没有硝烟的战斗中，红十字会工作人员不分昼夜、不辞辛苦地接受社会各界捐赠物资，并及时将物资下拨到受灾地区，确保捐赠物资最快到达受灾群众手中。他们的辛勤付出和无私奉献让受灾群众感受到了社会的关爱与温暖，也为他们渡过难关提供了有力支持。
新的一年，区红十字会将紧紧围绕党委、政府中心任务，夯实工作基础，依法履行职责，充分发挥党和政府在人道领域联系群众的桥梁纽带作用，为推动南票加快转型发展实现全面振兴和红十字事业进步贡献应有力量。
J |
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