Gottheimer Announces Steps To Combat Lead Water In New Jersey Schools

Press Release

Today, Monday, October 7, 2019, with the Governor and state elected officials, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced clear steps to provide parents and communities with easy-to-access and up-to-date information on dangerous lead water in their children's schools.

Gottheimer called for school districts: 1) to immediately test for lead if they have not already done so; 2) for school districts to make all test results widely available in an easy-to-find place on their websites, in plain speak, so that all New Jersey parents have access to this critical information; for school districts to follow up the following year and post steps taken to remediate; 3) for schools to be required to test their water for lead, and disclose findings, more frequently than the current requirement of once every six years; 4) for New Jersey, and all states, to create an easy-to-access central database that schools report into every year with lead water results for parents; and 5) for the State of New Jersey to strictly enforce the law that is already on the books.

Since 2017, Gottheimer has been calling on the State of New Jersey to enforce its school lead testing requirements and to create a centralized reporting website, and sounding the alarm on lead water in New Jersey schools and the health and safety impacts of lead exposure to New Jersey children, including letters to the state in October 2018, February 2019, and again in June 2019.

Today, the State of New Jersey announced that it would increase required school lead testing from every six to every three years, enhance enforcement measures against non-compliant schools, and create a centralized, state-managed database of lead testing results and information from all school districts.

"Every child deserves to drink water that's free of lead, and every parent deserves to know if their child's school has lead in their pipes, sinks, or water fountains. We're here to announce steps to give parents and communities easy-to-access and up-to-date information on their child's school's water. It's a level of transparency many of us have been calling for, for years now," said U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). "Last Congress, a key piece of my bipartisan Lead-Free Schools Act was enacted into law, creating a targeted pilot program with existing resources to improve drinking water infrastructure in schools nationwide with lead in their water. And right now, I'm working on new federal legislation to claw the resources back to New Jersey, from the Moocher States, needed to help our schools identify and replace all lead pipes -- and to promote transparency by making the results accessible to families online."

Gottheimer stood today at Herbert Hoover Elementary School with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, New Jersey Department of Education Commissioner Dr. Lamont Repollet, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine McCabe, New Jersey State Senator Joseph Lagana, Assemblywoman Lisa Swain, Assemblyman Christopher Tully, and Bergenfield Superintendent Christopher Tully, among others.

In his introduction today, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said, "I must give a huge shout out to the guy to my right, Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who's helped sound the alarm and open more eyes to the fact that the extent of our lead problem isn't left to our urban areas... He is a passionate advocate for Bergen County's kids and schools and I applaud his efforts not just here at home, but also in Congress, alongside our delegation, to push the federal government to support lead abatement efforts."

Gottheimer also noted his work over the past several years with Senate President Steve Sweeney, State Senators Lagana and Oroho, Speaker Coughlin, Assemblymembers Tully and Swain, the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, and many others, to help keep children safe.

"Lead in our drinking water is a public health concern that we must act to address immediately," said New Jersey State Senator Joseph Lagana. "Along with District 38 Assembly Members Swain and Tully, I have introduced legislation to increase transparency around water quality and help mobilize remediation measures in the event of an exceedance. It is necessary to work with all levels of government on this issue and the full commitment of the Administration and Legislative Leadership will greatly aid the fight to ensure our families have access to clean water."

"As the Mayor of Fair Lawn I tackled contaminated water issues and was able to make positive changes for our residents. Now as an Assemblywoman I am taking the fight to lead in our drinking water. No child should be at risk of damaging their health when they drink water at school and I am proud to be a sponsor of legislation to help protect our kids," said New Jersey Assemblywoman Lisa Swain.

"Since my days in Congressman Gottheimer's office I have led the charge against lead in school drinking water, calling for increased transparency around testing results. Now I'm sponsoring a bill package that that would increase regulation and oversight of schools, daycares, water systems and landlords, ensure that water system customers, schools and daycare centers, and the proper State and local authorities are quickly notified of exceedances, and make it easier for towns to replace lead service lines," said New Jersey Assemblyman Christopher Tully.

This past week, Gottheimer released a new report, The State of Lead Water in Schools in New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District, which analyzes every school district within the Fifth District for their compliance with New Jersey's lead water reporting law and the ability to easily find information on each school district's website.

A significant number of school districts do not report lead test results, meaning parents do not know whether their children's school drinking water is safe.

Of the school districts that do report lead tests, 51 districts, according to information and we could find, reported at least one outlet within their system had a problem with lead water. That is more than half of all the school districts in the Fifth District. Given the current requirements, it is unclear if all districts have addressed the issues, although it is likely they have.

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