AUGUSTA — The water going to Maine schools is tested and safe, but the water quality inside schools is largely unknown.
A voluntary state program is covering the cost of analyzing the lead content of up to 10 water samples from each school.
The federal Lead and Copper Rule doesn’t require water utilities to test for lead in schools, and most schools in Maine haven’t had their water tested for lead yet.
Interested water utilities and schools can contact the state’s health and environmental testing laboratory before May 31. The lab will send out sampling kits that include prepaid postage labels for shipping kits to the laboratory for analysis.
Depending on the results, schools may also have to pay for additional tests.
In this Jan. 25, 2016, file photo, third-grader Mayae Carradine listens to her teacher as she looks through a line of bottled water at Durant-Tuuri-Mott Elementary School, in Flint. In response to the city’s lead-tainted water crisis, the school hands out bottles of water to students daily. Responding to the crisis in Flint, Michigan, school officials across the country are testing for lead in the water flowing from classroom sinks and cafeteria faucets to reassure anxious parents or take action if they are surprised by the results.
More coverage: Unsafe levels of lead found in school drinking water
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