EPA awards Portland Area Indian Health Board $445,000 to test for lead in drinking water at schools and childcare centers | US EPA

November 23, 2021

Seattle (November 23, 2021) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board $445,000 from the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act to identify sources of lead in drinking water in tribally operated schools and childcare facilities.

Under EPA’s Voluntary Lead Testing in Schools and Child Care grant program, the agency is providing approximately $4.3 million to participating tribes and tribal consortia nationwide. The funding supports the creation or expansion of programs to test for lead in drinking water at schools and child-care programs in tribal communities and states.

“Schools should be safe places for students to learn and grow,” said Michelle Pirzadeh, EPA Region 10 Acting Regional Administrator. “We know there is no safe level of lead for children, and with this funding, tribes will be able to help protect their children by making their schools and childcare centers healthier and safer.”

“The Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board is pleased to be receiving funds through the EPA WIIN Act Grant Program to enhance the environmental health services we are able to provide to our member tribes,” said Celeste Davis, Environmental Public Health Program Director, for NPAIHB.

“Children’s environmental health is one of the NPAIHB Environmental Public Health Program’s priority areas and we look forward to collaborating with our tribes to deliver this program,” added Holly Thompson Duffy, Environmental Health Science Manager, for NPAIHB.

The NPAIHB is a non-profit tribal advisory organization serving the forty-three federally recognized tribes of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. WIIN Act funds will support drinking water lead testing in Tribally operated schools and childcare centers across the three states as part of the Board’s comprehensive outreach and community engagement effort to reduce childhood lead exposure. These facilities also include the Native American Indian Head Start and Early Head Start Centers, which serve thousands of children. Participating schools and childcare facilities will use EPA’s 3Ts (Training, Testing, and Taking Action) for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools to implement lead in drinking water testing programs to include identifying sources of lead such as fountains.

Background

Lead is particularly dangerous to children because their growing bodies absorb more lead than adults, and their brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead. In 2018, EPA and its federal partners launched the Federal Action Plan to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposures and Associated Health Impacts (pdf) to reduce lead exposures from multiple sources including drinking water, paint, outdoor air, and soil and dust contamination.

As part of its efforts to reduce lead in drinking water, EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program has funded over $24 billion in projects to modernize aging water infrastructure. The agency has also provided more than $1 billion in 2021 in new federal grant funding for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) which can be used for loans that help drinking water systems improve distribution systems by removing lead service lines.

Learn more about this grant and EPA’s other drinking water grant programs at https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/drinking-water-grants.

For more information about lead and to find resources to help prevent lead exposure, visit: https://www.epa.gov/lead.