On the first day of school at Epsom Central, water fountains that had been previously closed because of lead detected in the water will have new signage inviting students to drink: “Bottle Filler Works.”
The elementary and middle school recently installed water filters at fountains and sinks that will provide clean water for its 380 students, becoming the latest school to embrace the state’s Get the Lead Out of Drinking Water program.
“It’s what’s best for everyone,” Principal Patrick Connors said. “To keep everyone as safe as possible.”
Connors said the school tested around 80 water sources and installed 21 water filters for bottle filling stations and classroom sinks. Drinking water stations received both lead and PFAS filters while only lead filters were installed at hand washing stations.
In 2018, the state required all childcare centers and schools, public and nonpublic, to test their water sources for lead and take action to mitigate the lead contamination. An overhaul of the law in 2022 lowered the threshold of lead from 15 parts per billion to five parts per billion.
Program Manager Ian Atwell said that, with the updated regulations, three-fifths of New Hampshire schools and one-fifth of child care centers had at least one water source exceed that limit.
“Epsom is a great success story,” Atwell said. “They really engage with the resources that we have both for… doing a really comprehensive job of completing the testing and then taking action to remediate that.”
Since as early as 2016, the state has conducted three rounds of lead testing across educational facilities. Of all the samples taken in the most recent round — 16,549 total — nearly half of water sources tested below the reporting level of 0.4 parts per billion, according to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
38% of water sources tested between 0.4 and 4.99 parts per billion, and 12% tested at or above five parts per billion.
In the first round of testing, which ended before the law was revised, 14% of water sources had levels at or above five parts per billion. In round two, 18% tested at or above that threshold.
“What we’ve seen in Epsom, I would say, is very representative of what we’re seeing across the state in terms of a combination of replacing the fixtures, installing some filtration, as well as installing some of the bottle fill stations,” Atwell said.
The filter installations are supported by the Drinking Water and Groundwater Trust Fund, which set aside a $1 million fund for schools and another $1 million fund for childcare centers that wished to install water filters. Part of that money came from a $236 million settlement with ExxonMobil after the oil and gas corporation contaminated the state’s groundwater with gasoline additive MBTE.
Through the fund, Epsom Central School received an $11,000 grant to cover the entire cost of its filter installations, said State Representative Bill Boyd, chair of the Drinking Water and Groundwater Advisory Commission. Each filter costs around $80.
“All these kids are going to be drinking clean, potable water,” Boyd said. “Parents here in Epsom can feel assured that when their kid needs to take a drink of water, it’s clean.”
While the law requires every school and childcare center test its water sources, hundreds of facilities have not yet complied. Jim Martin, a spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Services, saidthe state offers free lead tests as an incentive for participation.
“We are taking this opportunity to put a spotlight on this program, because we still have a number of facilities, in particular child care facilities, that we’re still reaching out to and trying to get them to fulfill their requirements under the state legislation,” Martin said during a tour of Epsom Central.
Of the $1 million awarded to schools, $600,000 has been used so far to make “a positive impact” on 72 schools in New Hampshire, Boyd said.
“There’s still more work to be done,” Boyd said. “We really need to focus on those particular facilities that have challenges and work with them to get over that hump to be able to have that infrastructure in place to filter out and create clean water.”