All schoolchildren deserve clean, safe drinking water: Connie Leyva and Eloise Gomez Reyes.
If no one tested the water, those pipes could remain in use for decades — slowly releasing dangerous lead particles into our drinking water.
Lead in drinking water can be dangerous for a person’s health, especially for young children with growing bodies and brains that are still developing.
This year, the San Ysidro School District found lead contamination in several drinking fountains at three of its local schools.
These numbers may seem small, but they represent dangerous lead levels in thousands of schoolchildren.
School districts are now able to receive free testing from their local water agency to check for lead and copper in their water.
Advertisement Earlier this year, we authored SB210 to ensure that K-12 students across California have access to clean drinking water at school.
Children spend a large part of their weekdays at school, and we are proud to stand alongside California families to make sure that our local schools are using the resources available to them to check for and fix the lead contamination that may be harming their children.
We urge you to contact your local schools and school districts where your kids attend to make sure that — if they have not already done so — they request free testing from the local water agency.
State Sen. Connie M. Leyva, D-Chino, represents the 20th Senate District.