A Proactive Effort to Protect the Health and Safety of Arizona School Children

Out of an abundance of caution and to proactively protect Arizona’s children, in January 2017, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) initiated a six-month, statewide screening program for lead in public school district drinking water. Thanks to the overwhelming support from elected officials, sister and local agencies, municipal public water providers and Arizona public school districts, and others this successful program has benefited Arizona’s children’s health and confirmed that drinking water in public school districts is not a common source of lead in Arizona.

What We Learned

• Drinking water in public school districts is not a common source of lead in Arizona.
• Fixtures and piping are the source of lead for the small number of lead problems found in drinking water.

Overview

There were 16,125 samples taken from 14,782 fixtures for 1,427 schools from 180 school districts across Arizona, with the help of 14 analytical labs and six city partners.

Sampling

ADEQ and its partners collected 16,125 samples from 14,782 fixtures at all public school district schools, taking immediate corrective actions and retesting fixtures in buildings that tested higher than the screening level.

Results

96 percent of all fixtures screened were found to be protective and required no corrective action | View Report > 

• View testing results for each school by a map (from the map click on either the circle or the star for your school to get data | See Map >
• View testing results for each school by district  | View District List >

What's Next?

The Arizona School Facilities Board is addressing the small number of fixtures and piping with confirmed elevated levels of lead in drinking water | Learn more > 

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