The first step is to attend the required pre-enrollment training webinar. You can then go to https://www.cleanwaterforUSkids.org/Georgia to enroll your facility.
Once on the main page, click the blue “Enroll now” button to begin the enrollment process. Next, click on either “Public School” or “Child Care Center” under the “Select enrollment type” heading. Enter the 6-digit enrollment PIN you received at the end of the pre-enrollment webinar.
Once you enter your PIN, you can search for your school by name or address. Once you find it, select it in the dropdown list and hit the blue “Continue” button. If you don’t see your facility in this list, you may not be eligible for this program. Try searching by address or alternative names, and contact us if you still need help finding your facility.
After logging in, you can complete the enrollment survey to enroll your facility. Follow the instructions to enter information about your facility and all taps used for drinking and cooking. After your enrollment is complete, we will send you a confirmatory email notification. You will receive a follow-up email when your water sampling kit is shipped to your facility.
If you have not yet enrolled in the Clean Water for Georgia Kids™ program, please register for one of the required webinars at this link: Register for a Webinar. They are offered a few times a week at different times.
Thank you for promptly enrolling in the program. When we ship your sample kit, you will receive an email letting you know it is on its way and the UPS tracking information for the package. Due to varying request volume, it can sometimes take several weeks to receive your sampling kit after signing up. If it has been over 3 weeks, visit our contact page and let us know.
All public schools and licensed child care facilities in Georgia are eligible to participate in this program.
If your child care program is moving or adding a location or working on obtaining your license, the Georgia Department of Public Health has a program that can help you choose a safe location for children to grow and play. GA DPH Safe Siting can screen your proposed facility for harmful chemical hazards. For a free screening of your proposed child care center location, visit www.dph.georgia.gov/georgia-safe-siting-program and complete a Property History Questionnaire.
After completing enrollment, we will send you a water sampling kit along with written instructions on how to collect samples. Instructional videos and other useful resources to help you throughout the process can be found on the Clean Water for Georgia Kids™ program's Instructional Resources page.
Yes. You can use a modified protocol to collect samples while the facility is closed. Please contact us for the modified protocol.
Yes. Lead can enter your drinking water from a number of sources including city distribution pipes, privately owned piping and plumbing, pipe solder, water coolers, and even faucet fixtures. In this program, we've found facilities where only one out of many taps had lead, so it is important to test all taps used for drinking or cooking.
Any public school or licensed child care facility that wishes to have their water tested can enroll.
Facility Information
- Inventory of drinking and cooking taps in your building
- Brand of water filters and maintenance information, if applicable
- Age of building
- Year and types of renovations to plumbing, if applicable
- Drinking water source (water utility or private well water)
Student Enrollment Information
- Number of students enrolled
- Grade or age range of students
- Percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch
- Race and ethnicities percentages of students
- Summer school and fall schedule, if applicable
- How the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted operations (current status)
If you go back to the first section of the survey (Building Information), you will be required to re-enter information pertaining to your tap locations and classroom demographics. However, returning to other sections of the survey will not require data re-entry, though you will have to step through the following sections and questions again in order.
Yes, we ask that you include this in your enrollment survey so that you can sample each source of drinking and cooking water that you use in your facility. You can add bottled water as a tap under the “Other” section at the end of the “Sample Collection” survey.
We will send you a notification email to the email address that you enrolled in the program with, and you should find the box where packages are typically left. You will also see a notification email when the package has arrived.
You should open and check your sample box to confirm that you have:
- A water bottle for each drinking and cooking tap, in a large plastic zip bag
- A return mailing label with a zip bag
- A chain of custody document showing your sample locations.
Remember, you are using this box to return samples, so be careful with your box and hold onto your bubble wrap for your return shipment.
Check your chain of custody document to confirm the sample IDs are filled in correctly and coordinated with the bottles provided. For example, if the chain-of-custody says “kitchen sink,” a row of the chain of custody document should have a number label that matches with the bottle.
Once you confirm that your sample box is complete, you can read about how to collect water samples. If your sample box is not complete, contact staff at the Clean Water for Georgia Kids™ program at our contact page or via phone at 1-855-997-3183.
You can choose what address to ship the kits to. But note that this is also the address that will show up for the school on our public data results page here https://www.cleanwaterforuskids.org/georgia/data. If it works for you, we recommend shipping the boxes to the school or center, but alerting staff there to hold them for the person who will do the sampling. UPS will not deliver to a PO box. Our sampling kits are shipped in an 18”x13”x3” box that is too large to fit in most mail boxes.
When you complete your enrollment in the program, we generate and print out a shipping label to ship the sample kit to you and one for you to use to ship the kit back to us. Because we print both of these when you complete enrollment, it generates a tracking # and appears live on the UPS website.
Up to 18 bottles can fit in one test kit box. If you have more than 18 taps used for drinking or cooking, you may receive more than one box. Each box will contain its own Chain of Custody document that needs to be used and filled out.
Faucets used for drinking water and food preparation, as well as any water fountains that are being used for drinking now or will be used in the future.
A school or child care administrator or another staff member at the facility will collect the water samples. The person that enrolls in the program will fill out program information during enrollment, receive training videos and written instructions, and receive the test results. As such, the person that enrolls in the program should ideally be the person that will be completing the sampling. If you enrolled in the program but want another person to complete the water testing, you will need to ensure they view the training videos and read the written instructions provided in the sample box.
To collect a water sample:
First set a date to sample.
- Plan to sample on a Monday morning.
- Your center or school should be in normal operations. It is acceptable if you are open with reduced operations. However, if the best time for you to do the sampling is during a closure, we have a modified protocol that you can use, to approximate normal use conditions. Please contact us for the modified protocol.
Plan to sample using our support.
- Read the written instructions in the sample box and check out our training videos the week before sampling, found here.
- You need to sample when nobody has used water for eight hours (a “first-draw” sample). Let teachers and anyone else who comes in early know when you plan to sample and set an alarm to get there early.
- Do not flush or use any water at your facility prior to water sampling for at least 8 hours. Maintain normal water usage in the week leading up to sampling.
- Do NOT remove any aerators on your tap prior to collecting these samples.
- Do NOT close the shutoff valves on the pipes beneath the sinks.
- Do NOT allow someone in the building to start using water before you complete all sampling.
- If you come in to do the sampling and somebody has used water already, simply postpone your sampling until the next Monday. DO NOT flush water in the building prior to testing. You need to complete all sampling before ANY water is used in the building, so make sure you have enough time.
How to sample.
- You will sample in order of the rows on the chain of custody document. Start with the bottle that matches the first row of your chain of custody document. Do not wash your hands before you start - we need “first-draw” water samples. You can use hand sanitizer if you would like.
- Open the bottle carefully and pull the cap up; do not touch inside the cap or the bottle itself. (Note that these bottles differ slightly from the video on our website and your notification email).
- Turn the water on to a normal speed and fill the bottle, turning the water down as it gets to the top, stopping before it overflows. Close the bottle tightly.
- Repeat these steps for each sample, going in order of the chain of custody document.
- For water fountains, be careful, as you need to angle the bottle to try to get all of the water, and it may be different than you're expecting. If possible, the week before sampling, check the water fountain and see where the water typically hits and put a little mark there. If you don't get it in right away, that’s okay: just keep the bottle as full as you can. Don't pour it out and try again.
How to complete the chain-of-custody document.
- Fill in the date and the time on the chain of custody document for each sample and at the bottom. You've now completed your water sample collection.
- For information on how to ship your samples to the lab, check our other FAQs below.
If you have questions or comments on how to collect water samples, contact staff at the Clean Water for Georgia Kids™ program at our contact page or via phone at 1-855-997-3183.
Both will be provided during the enrollment process by the contract laboratory, RTI International, through the Clean Water for Georgia Kids™ program.
Yes. EPA 3Ts Guidance must be followed, which requires first draw samples with a minimum 8-hours stagnation. This program recommends a 72-hour stagnation period and sampling on a Monday morning.
The first choice is to sample under typical conditions at the school, while children are there during the week. However, if the best time for you to do the sampling is during a closure, we have a modified protocol that you can use, to approximate normal use conditions. Please contact us for the modified protocol if the building has been closed for 3 or more days when it's time to collect samples.
Lead levels in drinking water may vary throughout the day and are likely to be higher the longer water has been sitting, unused, in the pipes. For this reason, we recommend collecting water samples on a Monday morning before any water is used in the building. This is called “first-draw” sampling, and it is the method we are using because lead is most likely to be in drinking and cooking water after periods of inactivity. Since many facilities are not used over the weekend, and very few are used overnight, sampling early in the morning gives us a “high-end” scenario for lead at the tap on a weekly basis.
We understand that water at home-based child care programs is rarely unused over a weekend. At a minimum, “first-draw” samples must be collected after 8 hours of unuse, like overnight.
Yes, you should list them on your enrollment survey and test them, because they may be used for drinking or cooking water in the future. If a water outlet is currently turned off, you will turn them back on, run them for 5 minutes the Friday before you sample, and then on Monday morning, collect a sample from them. You may shut them off again after collecting the sample. Do not run them on the morning before you sample.
Yes, if the steamer is used for preparation of foods consumed by children.
No. You need to sample when nobody has used water for at least eight hours (a “first-draw” sample). DO NOT flush water in the building prior to testing. You should complete all sampling before ANY water is used in the building, so make sure you have enough time.
The one exception to this is for water fountains or taps that are normally used for drinking or cooking, but have recently been unused for an extended period of time (for example if they were closed for use during the COVID pandemic). Unused drinking and cooking taps that are shut off or out-of-use should be flushed the Friday before you sample. Flush these taps at full flow for 1-2 minutes. DO NOT flush water on the sampling day.
Yes. To take a sample from an ice machine, fill the sample bottle with ice, directly from the ice machine, if possible. You can also use a non-metal scoop to place ice into the sample bottle. Avoid touching the ice with bare hands. Use of clean, new, disposable plastic gloves is acceptable. Let the ice melt, and then refill the bottle until it is filled to the neck of the bottle (i.e., the narrow part of the bottle where the bottom of the cap sits). Fill the bottle as full as you can get it and still securely close the lid.
Facilities will receive a follow-up sampling kit for any taps or fountains that had lead results at or above 15 ppb. These taps should not be used for drinking or cooking until follow-up testing and remediation actions are complete. Two-step follow-up sampling can provide more information about sources of lead, to help guide remediation. Samples will be taken by the designated staff person or volunteer, similarly to the first-round sampling, and will follow the EPA 3T’s Guidance. Two samples will be collected from each tap.
- On the Friday before sampling, run water from that tap for 1-2 minutes. Do NOT remove any aerators on your tap prior to collecting these samples. Do NOT close the shutoff valves on the pipes beneath the sinks.
- Read the printed instructions fully, before sampling.
- On the Monday, before anyone has used water in the building, take one "first draw" sample. This is the same procedure used during the previous round of sampling.
- Let the water run for 30 seconds. Then fill the second sample bottle labeled for that tap.
- Results will be updated after the second round of sampling, with recommendations for action.
Read the written instructions in the sample box, and check out our training videos the week before sampling here.
There are four steps.
Step 1: Repack the Test Kit Box
- You will re-use the shipping box and two zipper bags that your test kit came in. Put the filled sample bottles back in the larger bag. Check to make sure each sample bottle is closed tightly first. Put six bottles in a row, then start another row, up to 18 bottles per bag. Zip the bag; if the bag is not full, fold it over to zip it up. Seal it well. Place the bag in the box.
- Put the chain of custody document in the smaller bag and seal it, so it doesn’t get wet. Place this bag in the box as well.
Step 2: Apply the Return Mailing Label
- Place the provided return UPS mailing label on the box, over the label from shipping the box to you. Close the box using strong shipping tape to thoroughly reseal the top flap before shipping.
Step 3: Schedule a UPS Pickup
- There's no charge for you to ship these samples to the lab: the return mailing label is prepaid.
- Schedule a pickup at UPS.com OR Call UPS at 1-800-742-5877 after 7am. If you schedule before 10am, UPS will come the same day. You do not need to drop off the package: if the website or phone system asks if you want help finding a UPS location where you can drop off your package, select No. You need to give UPS your phone number and the tracking number from the shipping. Write down the confirmation number.
Step 4: Take the Box Outside for Pickup
- Place the box where you typically leave packages for UPS pickup. A location in the shade is ideal.
Your samples will expire after sitting in their bottle for more than 14 days. If you have collected your samples within the last 10 days, please send them to us ASAP to ensure we receive them before they expire. If it has been more than 10 days since you sampled and haven’t shipped them yet, please contact us at our contact page as you may need to order a new sampling kit.
When we receive samples at the lab, we:
- Log the samples into our system
- Check to make sure the samples are in good condition, no water has leaked out from the caps, and the sample IDs match what’s on the chain of custody document
- Measure how much sediment is in the sample (turbidity) to see if we have to do any additional preparation before laboratory analysis
- Preserve the sample for up to six months by adding high purity nitric acid in a clean environment
- Let acidified samples sit at room temperature for at least 16 hours
- Check the sample pH to confirm stability
- Load the samples into the auto sampler for analysis.
Once analysis is completed, we’ll send your results via your online portal and a notification email. With the results will be recommendations to improve your water quality based on the results.
When we have finished analyzing your water samples, you will receive an email notification informing you that your results are ready. You can view and print your results by signing into your account at https://www.cleanwaterforuskids.org/auth/login. Once you are logged in, click the “view results” button to see your results and recommended remediation actions. You can also save and print your facility’s results. An example of how to do this is shown in this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zot6nSBquvo.
Notification will be according to EPA 3Ts Guidance Module 1: Communicating the 3Ts HERE. The federal grant requires us to post your results publicly on our public mapper, which you may share with parents and staff. We also provide you with the opportunity to list mitigation efforts and complete additional testing to show that mitigation is working.
See the Communication Toolkit from Clean Water for Georgia Kids for template emails, talking points, and more.
- Share your results and plans for action with parents and staff of your facility in person, via email, or on your own website. See the Communication Toolkit here. You are welcome to share your results and recommendations document or the link to the public results page www.cleanwaterforuskids.org/georgia/data.
- Take action. We strongly recommend that you follow all of our risk mitigation recommendations to protect children’s health. Please post the actions that you take for each sample location on our portal HERE to show what actions you took to get the lead out of children’s drinking and cooking water at your facility. The public will see your risk mitigation measure next to the sample result on our public mapper.
- For any samples containing lead at or above 15 ppb, immediately follow the steps on your results page to block use of the tap. Post "Do not use for drinking and cooking" signage. We will send you a new test kit to take additional samples to provide more detailed recommendations. Follow-up sampling results can help you decide which risk mitigation measure to take.
Your laboratory results will be provided along with recommendations based on the concentration of lead in each sample. We recommend different actions depending on which of these categories your results fall into as shown in our illustration of recommended risk mitigation based on test results for each tap.
More information can be found in the Understanding the Results of Your Water Test section (pages 7-9) of our program instructions or in the "Risk Mitigation" section below.
Results at or above 15 ppb
If you have a sample that is at or exceeds this level, place a “Do not use” sign and tape over the tap to ensure that no children or staff are using it. We will send another test kit to further assess those taps. Once the second sample is analyzed, we will let you know the result and help you identify the best way to get the lead out of that tap. Three likely low-cost recommendations are to:
- Contact a plumber and make sure you don't have a clog or an issue with the pipe.
- Potentially change your faucet fixture, which may contain elevated lead.
- Install and maintain a water filter that is certified to remove lead.
Results at or above 5 ppb
For samples at or above 5 ppb, we strongly recommend low-cost solutions to remove lead or eliminate exposure. These include:
- Stop using the tap and designate another tap without detectable lead for drinking and cooking purposes.
- Install and maintain a water filter certified to remove lead.
- Flush water in the morning.
Results at or above 1 ppb
If your results are at or above 1 ppb, we recommend low-cost solutions to remove lead or avoid exposure. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that lead in water not exceed 1 ppb, since no level of lead is safe for children to be exposed to. Potential steps include:
- Stop using the tap and designate another tap without detectable lead for drinking and cooking purposes.
- Install and maintain a water filter certified to remove lead.
- Flush water in the morning.
Results below detection (0.1 ppb)
If your any results are below our laboratory detection limit that may mean there is no lead in your water, or that there is a very low level (less than 0.1 ppb). In all cases, we recommend practicing “clean water habits” for all water, including:
- Use only cold water for drinking or cooking. Don't start using hot water, even if you're going to boil it.
- Flush water at all taps used for drinking or cooking water for several minutes after holidays or weekends, or other times when the child care center is not in use. This clears out standing water in the pipes with fresh water.
- Contact a plumber promptly if you have a clog or decreased flow at a tap.
This is one of the No-Cost Clean Water Habits, and we encourage everyone to use these regardless of the lead level. This strategy can prevent exposure by designating taps and fountains that have tested lead-free as the outlets for drinking and cooking water, by proper signage and education of students and staff.
We appreciate your dedication to ensuring that your children are drinking lead-free water. Any facility that would like to do additional testing, beyond what is covered with the current grant funds, may purchase a new test kit through your portal. Log in and select “re-order,” choosing only the taps that you would like to further test. These results will be reported in the same way as the initial testing.
The facility should immediately provide alternative drinking water until follow-up samples are collected and appropriate risk mitigation steps are taken.
Step 1. Choose A Filter
Choose a filter certified to remove lead. See our flyer on how to choose a water filter to remove lead here.
Step 2. Install Your Filter
Your filter should come with written or visual instructions for installation. Just follow those instructions and you’ll be on your way. Lots of filter makers also create videos that show you exactly how to install their filter on your sink. We’ve created a YouTube playlist of these videos. You can find those on our “NC Child” Clean Drinking Water YouTube channel “NC Child” HERE or by searching YouTube for your filter’s exact name and model number. We also have a general demonstration video with our www.cleanwaterforuskids.org/Georgia instructional videos HERE. You may need a plumber to install an under-counter (in-line) filter, unless you are handy with plumbing.
Step 3. Maintain Your Filter
NSF certified filters are a great way to keep your water as safe and clean as possible. But they only work properly if you maintain them properly!
- Change the filter cartridge on time. If you don’t, filters remove less and less unsafe substances like lead from your water. Lead and bacteria can even build up in an old filter cartridge, and then be released into your water, making your water less safe. So, be sure to change your filter following your manufacturer’s recommendations. Many filter devices include a light that tells you when the filter needs to be changed. How often you need to change the filter depends on how much water you’re using. That means that your main kitchen faucet may need to be replaced sooner than a secondary sink. Check your filter instructions to understand exactly when it’s time to replace your filter cartridge.
- Use only the brand-name replacement cartridges made by your manufacturer. Off-brand filter cartridges may not be certified to get the lead out. Cheaper replacement cartridges may seem like a good deal, but if they don’t work properly, you’re wasting your money.
- Flush some water through a newly installed filter cartridge to get it working. Each filter is different: some filter cartridges need as much as 10 gallons of water run through them before they’re ready to use. So read the instructions that come with your filter carefully.
- Use the filter exactly as instructed by the manufacturer. That usually means filtering only COLD water. Hot water can damage many types of filters.
This information can also be found in the How to Maintain a Water Filter section (page 18) of our program instructions.
Sinks, faucets, and plumbing fixtures sometimes contain unsafe levels of lead. Please see our flyer on how to install a certified lead-free faucet here.
If your faucet is the source of the lead in your water, you have two options:
- Install a faucet-mounted or counter-top filter. Keep in mind these do NOT fit sinks that have a drop-down nozzle.
- Replace the faucet itself with a new stainless steel faucet.
Replacing a faucet may sound complicated, but it’s actually pretty straightforward. If you are somewhat handy, you can replace a faucet yourself. If not, you may want to get a plumber or handyman to do the job. The faucet you choose will come with written instructions. Many manufacturers also make videos to help you. On our NC Child YouTube channel, we’ve created a video playlist of faucet replacement guides. If you don’t find your brand of faucet on our playlist, search YouTube for the specific manufacturer brand name and model number of your new faucet. General instructions for replacing a faucet are:
Step 1. Assemble the Tools You’ll Need:
- A light for under the sink
- An adjustable wrench
- WD-40 or another penetration oil spray.
- You may also need a wire brush and a hair dryer
Step 2. Shut Off Your Water
You can find the on/off valves in the cabinet below the sink. Use your fingers to twist the hot water AND cold water supply lines to the “off” position. Sometimes those valves can get stuck or rusted, which can make them almost impossible to budge. If that happens to you, get a hair dryer and apply some heat to the valve. That should loosen the valve enough that you can close it by hand. Don’t use tools like wrenches to try to close the valve: if you put too much twisting pressure on it, it could break. If you’re still having trouble, shut off the building’s main water valve before you go any further.
Step 3. Remove the Old Faucet
Removing the old faucet is often the trickiest part of the process. The space under the sink is often narrow and dark. You’ll need a work light, and an adjustable wrench to loosen the nuts. The nuts can often be stuck or rusted. Try brushing away as much corrosion as possible with a wire brush. Then spray on some WD-40. That will help dissolve the corrosion and make the nuts easier to turn. If you’re still having trouble loosening the nuts, it may be time to call a licensed professional.
Step 4. Install the New Faucet
Once the old faucet is out, installing the new faucet is the easy part. Follow the video or written instructions that come with your new faucet to learn how to install it. It includes flushing the water before use.
Once the new faucet is installed, you will want to have follow-up water testing done to be sure the new faucet has eliminated the lead from your water.
This information can also be found in the How to Replace Your Faucet section (pages 19-20) of our program instructions.
The US Lead Contamination Control Act of 1988 mandated the repair, replacement, recall, and refund of drinking water coolers with lead-lined tanks. Lead-lined water coolers aren’t the only fountains that contain some lead in them, but the U.S. EPA states these typically cause the most elevated occurrence of lead in drinking water from a water cooler/fountain. A listing of lead-lined water coolers (fountains) that have been recalled can be found HERE.
If you want to check for lead service lines on your property, you’ll need a metal tool, such as a screwdriver, and a magnet.
Step 1. Locate Where the Water Line Enters the Building
Typically, this is in the basement or lowest level. Look for the water meter and identify the inlet valve going into the building.
Step 2. Scratch off Rust or Corrosion on the Outside of the Pipe
Find a place to examine and use the metal tool to scrape off any rust or corrosion. If there is a covering around the pipe, uncover or unwrap the pipe first.
Step 3. See if the Magnet Sticks to the Pipe
If the magnet sticks, the pipes must be galvanized steel, which is typically a dull gray. Galvanized steel pipes can be a source of lead, especially if the galvanized steel pipes are downstream of leaded components in the distribution system of your public water supply.
Step 4. If the Magnet Does Not Stick, Check the Color of the Pipe If the magnet does not stick, the pipes must be lead or copper. You can distinguish between these by the color (both are typically shiny):
- Lead pipe is silver or gray
- Copper pipe is the color of a penny
If you are not comfortable completing these steps or suspect you have lead or galvanized steel pipes, we suggest you consult a plumber for verification.
Please see our flyer on how to identify a lead service line here.
Bottled water is expensive and creates a large amount of recycling or trash. Therefore, we do NOT recommend bottled water as a permanent solution.
Doing the Math on Bottled Water: Bottled water costs about $1.50/gallon. Maintaining a filter costs about $0.10/gallon. A child care center that serves 50 children uses about 4,700 gallons of drinking water a year. Choosing a filter instead of bottled water would save that center over $6,000 a year: that would more than pay off the investment of buying a filter system several times over!
- Make sure your internet browsers are up to date -- the latest version of Chrome is preferred.
- Alternatively, use your phone to login and register
- Please try the above two options before reaching out to us. If you have tried steps 1 and 2, contact us and we can help you enroll.
Children’s health and safety at your facility is our top priority.
It is possible for lead to contaminate drinking water at schools and child care facilities through water piping, plumbing, and fixtures. Lead exposure causes irreversible, lifelong, and cumulative cognitive and behavior deficits that affect learning, school performance, behavior, and more. The only way to identify and get the lead out of water is to test for it at every tap used for drinking and cooking.
If you run a school or send your kids to one, regardless of the building’s age, it’s really important to make sure that the building and the drinking water are free from lead. At schools, potential sources of lead exposure include old paint, drinking and cooking water, and imported school supplies and other manufactured products.
This program is different from the testing usually done by public water systems in several important respects, including the goals of the testing, how many locations are sampled, and the volume of the samples collected.
- Goals of the testing.
The goal of the Clean Water for Georgia Kids™ testing is to detect specific locations in a building where there may be a health risk from lead in water, and provide recommendations for action. The lead testing usually done by a public water system is only intended to check on the operations of the water system as a whole. This information is used by the water utility to adjust aspects of the water treatment to make sure the water isn’t too corrosive.
The water testing done through the Clean Water for Georgia Kids™ program is based on the EPA’s guidance specifically designed for schools (3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools and Child Care Facilities). - Number of locations sampled
Public water systems are only required to test a small selection of taps across the water system. Even when water system testing results are in compliance, the EPA still recommends testing all drinking and cooking taps for lead at schools and child care centers, because lead levels can vary from tap to tap, even within the same building. The Georgia Department of Education has partnered with RTI International, with funding from the EPA, to make this testing possible throughout Georgia. - Volume of the samples collected.
Public water systems collect 4 times more water during lead sampling than the EPA’s recommendations for lead sampling in schools. The Clean Water for Georgia Kids™ program follows the EPA’s guidance for schools and collects samples in 250 milliliter bottles, or about 1 cup of water. This is important when trying to find specific taps in a building that may have a lead problem, because a bigger volume will mix water from a longer section of the pipes and can make it harder to know where the lead is coming from.
Many schools have spread their sampling out over the course of a few weeks or enlisted the assistance of teachers. We have developed a few resources to help you design the best sampling program that works for you. This includes a Large Facility Sampling Plan Guidance document, designed to assist schools that have received multiple sampling boxes and are looking for guidance in developing a sampling plan. We also developed a Guidance Document for Teacher Involvement, which walks you through the steps in the process and how teachers can help along the way.
Thanks to a federal grant, this testing is FREE right now for public schools and licensed child care facilities.
Yes, we have worked with teachers and small groups of students in the past. This can be a valuable learning experience for students interested in environmental science. The school district or the individual school can decide who is involved in collecting water samples.
We also developed a Guidance Document for Teacher Involvement, which walks you through the steps in the process and how teachers can help along the way.
Training on sampling methods is provided by RTI International through this program. The Clean Water for Georgia Kids team will review sampling data and look for patterns in the data.
This program focuses on testing and getting rid of lead in drinking and cooking water.
This program involves virtually training facility staff on how to enroll online, collect water samples, and ship them, which is less than an hour. Then, trained facility staff will collect the water samples, which should take about 1-3 minutes per tap. Once you get your results, we provide no-cost and low-cost solutions for taking action, if needed.
The program is being run by RTI International. Please do not respond to or collect water samples from other companies claiming to be part of the new lead testing program - they are not part of this program and are not funded to provide you with complimentary lead testing and support. If you receive confusing Information from another company, please provide us the information (https://www.cleanwaterforuskids.org/Georgia/contact).
You can scroll down the main page at https://www.cleanwaterforuskids.org/Georgia and also read our About section here.
If your question is not addressed in this FAQ you can contact staff at the Clean Water for Georgia Kids program through our contact page or via phone at 1-855-997-3183. This contact support page will route your questions and comments to program staff. We aim to reply within two business days.
This is a voluntary and free program in partnership with the Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning to test lead in drinking and cooking water in schools and child care facilities across Georgia.
The first step is to attend a required pre-enrollment webinar. After that, you will enroll in our program using our website portal. You can enroll one or multiple facilities.
We will ship you a sampling kit. You will learn how to collect water samples using our clear written instructions sent in your test kit or the training videos on our website. After you collect water samples at your facility, you will ship them back using a pre-paid label.
At the lab, we will analyze the water to see if it contains lead and, if so, how much. We will subsequently share your test results with you.
If there is lead, there are straightforward, cost-effective steps to eliminate exposure. For example, you can designate “clean taps” for drinking and cooking, use water filters, and replace old plumbing fixtures. Boiling water does NOT remove lead or prevent lead exposures. Taking recommended steps to get lead out of your drinking water can ensure that your water lead levels get down to almost zero.
That’s great! You are still eligible to participate, and we can confirm that the water is lead-free. We encourage you to do so especially if:
- any facilities have not yet tested,
- prior testing did not test at every drinking and cooking tap, or
- prior testing included a higher detection limit (this program measures lead concentrations as low as 0.1 ppb).
We aim to test for lead at every drinking or cooking tap because lead levels can vary from tap to tap even within the same building.
Please contact us for additional information and guidance here.
It typically takes about 1-2 weeks for you to receive your test kit after you complete the online enrollment survey. Then, it usually takes about 2-3 weeks from when we receive your test kit back for the results to be posted to our portal.
While there is no immediate deadline to enroll in the Clean Water for Georgia Kids program, the EPA funds supporting our testing efforts are limited. Early childhood exposure to lead at any level can cause cognitive and behavioral challenges, so we recommend enrolling now to help eliminate childhood exposure to lead in drinking and cooking water.
Flushing is the process of running water after it has been sitting in your pipes for a while. As water sits in pipes, it can pull lead and other metals from the pipes and fixtures it is sitting in. If your school or child care center has been closed for a prolonged period of time, you should flush your water before opening. A general rule of thumb is 15 minutes to 1 hour of flushing for long term closures such as for COVID-19 or summer vacation, 3 to 5 minutes after holiday closures, and 1-2 minutes for daily or weekend closures. You should flush all taps in your center when you do flush. You can learn more about flushing from the EPA 3Ts flushing guidance.