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How Far Will Montana’s Push to Remove Lead from School Drinking Water Go?_我的网站

永不磨灭的番号

A | Nancy 编译虽然，由上届工党政府实施的奥克兰燃油税一直备受争议，但新政府决定将在6月废除该税。

B | 本周四（2月8日），总理Christopher Luxon和交通部长Simeon Brown正式宣布了这一决定。

By Keely Larson | KFF Health News

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.

。媒体一直猜测，奥克兰市长可能会通过提升税收政策来填补燃油税收的缺口。然而今天，奥克兰市长迅速就昨天总理做出的决定表态，并承诺市议会不会提高奥克兰市的地税。 Brown在接受《Morning Report》节目采访时表明，奥克兰市议会将会寻求通过减少项目开支或寻找其他融资方案来解决资金问题，而不是仅仅依赖提高地税来解决财政困境。 Brown表示，他不会简单的因为政府取消了税收而提高地税。他认为政府应该为取消税收所带来的后果负责。比如像Lake Road这样的升级项目如果因为燃油税的取消而中止，市民将会认识到这是政府取消了该项目。因此，他强调不会仅仅通过提高地税来替代被取消的项目，而会寻找其他的解决方案。 Brown早些时候表示，取消燃油税将在未来四年内使奥克兰交通部门出现12亿纽币的赤字，大约有30个项目将面临取消的风险。但Brown强调，他愿意与新政府合作，确保一些承诺的项目能够继续付诸行动。 Advertise with us 与此同时，奥克兰市议会议员Richard Hills则表示，“如果要继续支撑由燃油税支持的交通项目，地税可能需要上升约7%，而取消燃油税将使其他项目面临被取消的风险。” 奥克兰汽车协会也表示，政府取消燃油税可能会受到大多数奥克兰汽车司机的欢迎，但需要找到替代方案来填补这些资金缺口。交通部长Simeon Brown称，“政府将很快发布交通政策声明，该声明会涵盖一些道路修缮项目和收费措施，例如拥堵费。” 虽然未来将面临着巨大的挑战，但奥克兰市政府和政府部门将继续努力合作，确保奥克兰交通项目的顺利进行，同时避免对市民增加不必要的负担。相关阅读：总理宣布：奥克兰的地区燃油税即将终结！市长不爽：可能涨地税一文了解新西兰拥堵费：什么时候可能开始收取？各政党和城市立场如何？奥克兰又现另一个“天坑”！主路封闭公交绕行五年来国家公路上出现的坑洼超过21万个，最多的地区是…… 政府会征税但不会花？逾3亿纽币的奥克兰燃油税仍未使用奥克兰人交的地区燃油税到底有没有花完？市长这么说…… 耗资6200万的奥克兰道路项目开工，你交的地区燃油税花在这儿燃油税满半岁：收了7770万纽币，只花掉一半！重点花在东区！政府拨款资助了交通项目，奥克兰人还要交10年的地区燃油税吗？奥克兰燃油税敲定！每公升11.5纽分今年7月起实施奥克兰地区燃油税通过，每升油加价11.5纽分！注：本文为编译/原创，欢迎转发分享；但严禁复制等未经授权的非法使用。违反上述声明者，本网将追究其相关法律责任。使用授权请联系[email protected]。 chineseherald.co.nz All Rights Reserved 版权所有 (责编：Nancy) 来源 - 相关内容澳洲热带气旋Kirrily形成了5500公里长的云带，会影响新西兰吗？奥克兰一女子晨跑时遭到袭击并被抢，警方发布嫌犯照片总理宣布：奥克兰的地区燃油税即将终结！市长不爽：可能涨地税警察又逮到一名9岁小孩开车，还是在这个地区！奥克兰中区大火还在继续燃烧，没有足够的水来灭火…… 奥克兰西区一处房屋发生火灾一人死亡毛利事务撕裂新政府，国庆日怀唐伊成战场奥克兰中区Ōnehunga垃圾场燃起大火 20公里外可见浓烟！。

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