Lead in Drinking Water of MA Education Facilities Public Deposited (2025)

Project Abstract
Lead is a dangerous contaminant that impairs many functions of the body when consumed and is a problem in drinking water. We worked with MassDEP to conduct outreach to determine if and how education facilities addressed lead in their drinking water. During outreach, we found that childcare facilities responded more than schools, and we got more responses from emails than calls. From the responses, we learned about common remediation actions taken by facilities, like posting signage and installing filters. Due to our time limit, there are still many facilities to contact. We recommend that MassDEP prioritize more outreach using the toolkit we made and collaborate with other agencies to pass a bill mandating testing and remediation, so there is no question about how lead is being addressed.