More than 500 Delaware residents have petitioned the Senate Health & Social Services Committee, Senate Education Committee, House Health & Human Development Committee, and House Education Committee to hold a joint hearing on the issue of lead in the drinking water in Delaware public schools.
The petitioners have asked for information, answers to their questions, and accountability about this problem and how it will be corrected so that the drinking water in every public school is safe.
The petition follows several front-page stories published in The News Journal about the sampling for lead in Delaware’s public schools. The Department of Education (DOE) and Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), who were responsible for the testing initiative that was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have failed to take reasonable and timely steps to notify school districts, students, parents, and school employees about the risks of lead poisoning or the importance of timely blood lead testing. As a result, there have been extended delays, in some cases for more than a year, before shutting off problem taps or posting warnings not to drink lead-contaminated water. Some problem taps may still be used for drinking and preparing food because EPA-mandated requirements for notification and planning were ignored by state agencies.
Instead of following EPA requirements, the Delaware Department of Education and Department of Health and Social Services have evaded transparency and provided misrepresentations about their responsibilities in this project. One of the most egregious prevarications was a denial that the planning process for communication and addressing problem taps was required. This planning, known as the EPA’s 3Ts (Training, Testing, and Taking Action) for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools, provides the roadmap for maintaining appropriate notification and feedback with stakeholders as well as the steps needed to keep drinking water safe.
Yet, in their FOIA Response on October 24, 2022, DOE maintained that the 3Ts were “not a requirement” when explaining why a FOIA request for the Communications Plan was empty. On October 17, 2022, the following information was also provided via Senate Health Committee Chair Senator Sarah McBride:
“In response to my questions, they are saying very explicitly that there was no requirement for a communications plan and that the results did not trigger a communications requirement from them. I have followed up to ask the timeline of all of this. Here is what I was sent from DOE:
The grant did not require a communications plan. Although the results also did not trigger any federal or state communication requirements, DOE and DPH provided communications materials to districts/charters to support their local communications efforts. How each district/charter handled its local communications differed and was a local decision. As the initiative moves forward, DOE and DPH will continue to support districts with technical guidance, information on available funding and other resources.”
Despite the outcry from school districts and parents about the high levels of lead in some Delaware schools and the backpedaling and finger-pointing by DOE and DHSS, no public statements, reassurance or commitment to correct these problems have been made by any legislators about this issue.
Lead in the drinking water of Delaware’s public schools is an environmental justice issue throughout the state. There is no safe level of lead in drinking water, and high levels of lead in excess of the EPA MCL of 0.015 mg/L were sampled in kitchen prep areas, nurse’s offices, staff lounges, and water fountains.
The locations of some of the most impacted schools are in environmental justice communities that are affected by the cumulative impacts of environmental toxins, ongoing industrial emissions, and legacy pollution in air, water and soil. This includes The Wallace Wallin School, located on the Rt. 9 Corridor, which had water samples greater than ten times the EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for lead in drinking water.
Environmental justice demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias.
Petitioners requested a joint House-Senate Hearing of the Health and Education Committees, which should be held in the evening at a time that is most convenient for public participation (7-9 pm), in a virtual format so that everyone can participate. The urgency of this issue demands immediate action.
