But even with these two new pools of money intended to last two years, the state’s schools may struggle to remove all but the most dangerous sources of lead, considering about half the schools that tested their water between July 2020 and February 2022 found high lead levels. Medical experts say no amount of lead is safe to ingest.
“When you start replacing faucets and drinking fountains in the hundreds of schools that we have in Montana, that gets eaten up pretty quickly,” said Democratic state Rep. Paul Tuss, who added the state funding to an infrastructure bill passed this spring.
If the total were divided evenly among the approximately 590 schools that need to meet the state’s new lead testing rules, each school would receive less than $8,000 from the state to test and upgrade its faucets, pipes and water fountains. The state already knows that 110 schools have had at least one water fixture with lead levels of 15 parts per billion or higher, three times the level that requires action under Montana rules.
Most schools with lead levels over the state limit could address their “exceedances” with the state money, according to state Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson Moira Davin. “Our plan is to address as many schools as possible with this funding,” she said.
But part of the challenge for Montana is that it doesn’t yet know how extensive a problem its schools have. More than a fifth of the state’s schools facing the new rules — 129 facilities — hadn’t completed any sampling as of Aug. 3, said Greg Montgomery, the director of the department’s Lead in Schools program. And replacing a single school’s pipes can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We are not talking about solving the whole problem here,” said Levin, who worked on lead exposure during her nearly 40 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Lead is particularly harmful to children and can lead to brain and nervous system damage and slowed development and growth. It typically gets into drinking water in schools through piping or fixtures. A 2020 state rule requires schools to test water supplies every three years. If lead concentrations surpass 5 parts per billion, fixtures must be addressed — and shut off if higher than 15 ppb.
Jessica Reyes, an economics professor at Amherst College, said prioritizing fountains or pipes with high lead levels after a “first draw” test could help a lot. The test measures lead in water the first time a faucet is turned on for the day, after the water’s been sitting in a pipe all night. That sample provides the best data to pinpoint the greatest risks, she said.
Running all faucets for a few minutes before kids get to school is quite protective for kids, Reyes added, because the quantity of lead diminishes as the water runs. But Reyes likes to imagine a kindergartner who gets to school early for free breakfast and drinks from a water fountain before anyone in the building clears the pipes.
“Everything kids need to grow — lead is the opposite of those,” Reyes said.
Montana officials will decide how to distribute the money from the legislature, reimbursing schools for costs such as installing new faucets, water filters, plumbing and water bottle filling stations. The federal grant, meanwhile, will be used for covering costs related to testing, Montgomery said.
Schools will have to participate in the state’s Lead in Schools program by sampling their drinking water to get any of the state funding, he said, and they won’t be able to use the money on projects completed before the state bill was signed into law.
Montgomery said the amount available to schools would depend on whether they have any fixtures over the “action level,” or fixtures with lead concentrations over 5 ppb. Funding will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis, he said.
Even if a school doesn’t have high samples of lead in its test results, Montgomery said, it could seek money to install water bottle filling stations with filters. Schools could also use the money for larger projects such as replacing piping, but, Montgomery said, the state will set a limit on how much each school can get. And, he said, it’s unlikely the money will be able to cover something like a $100,000 pipe replacement project.
The goal is to make money available to all schools, regardless of size, and ensure a couple of schools aren’t “gobbling” the entire amount, Montgomery said. That means schools with extensive issues will likely need to pick which areas to fix.
“We want to make sure the small schools have equal footing as the large schools,” Montgomery said.
Many Montana schools have already launched remediation projects after receiving high lead results.
One sink at Skyview High School in Billings had one of the highest levels of lead detected in schools across the state. Scott Reiter, the executive director of facilities for Billings Public Schools, said the sink was in a control room in the auditorium and people rarely used it. After the results came in, the fixture was removed to make the sink unusable.
On a larger scale, he said, all cold-water piping for drinking and sinks was replaced at Rimrock Learning Center in Billings last summer. Reiter said the school had been remodeled and all fixtures replaced about five years ago, so when lead was detected all over the school, it was clear it wasn’t just one fixture.
“We knew that it had to be in the lines,” Reiter said.
Reiter said the school district used leftover money from a 2013 elementary school district bond to replace Rimrock’s pipes, which he estimated cost $100,000.
While Reiter said he was disappointed costs from the Rimrock pipe replacements and other projects that have already happened couldn’t be reimbursed retroactively, he welcomed the state’s additional funding. “Any help to the schools for something like this is great,” he said.
The Great Falls Public Schools district also exemplifies how extensive and expensive such work can be. The district used $19,511 from an earlier $40,000 state allocation for drinking fountains, water bottle fillers and filters across schools in the district, said Brian Patrick, its director of business services and operations. He said the district also got 783 tests covered by the state, each costing $25.
His district used a bond passed in 2017 to fund a pipe replacement at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, where 23 tests came in at 5 ppb or higher. The pipes were replaced last summer, Patrick said, costing $411,252.
“It doesn’t get fixed in one fell swoop,” Patrick said.
This article was produced by KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF. It has been published with permission.
B |
会议期间，与会专家学者围绕左宗棠爱国主义精神的核心内涵与时代价值、左宗棠治疆措施与中华民族共同体建设、左宗棠西征与国家统一的历史实践等议题开展分组讨论。大家立足史料观照现实，多维度阐释戍边历史的现实意义，进一步充实近代新疆边疆治理的研究成果。
图为左宗棠第五世外孙梁小进发言。袁鹏冲 摄
左宗棠第五世外孙、湖南省文史研究馆馆员梁小进受邀参会并分享研究观点。依托家族史料与长期实地考证，他系统梳理了左宗棠携棺西征、驻节哈密筹边理政的历史脉络。
梁小进表示，左宗棠驻留哈密期间，在巩固边防、整肃军务的基础上，积极推行屯垦开荒、兴修水利、安抚民心的治理举措，有效稳固了边疆社会秩序与发展根基。其胸怀家国、务实笃行、守土尽责的精神品质，跨越百年依然具备重要的时代传承价值与现实指导意义。
C |
回望近代边疆发展史，左宗棠经略西域的系列举措，兼具国家安全层面的战略意义与区域发展层面的治理价值。晚清边疆局势动荡之际，左宗棠力主稳固塞防，率军西征收复新疆全境，有效抵御外部势力侵扰，维护国家领土主权完整。
与此同时，他因地制宜推行屯垦制度、兴建水利工程、打通商贸通路、推进绿化治边，极大改善边疆生产生活条件，推动新疆建省建制落地实施，健全边疆常态化治理机制，为新疆长期稳定与持续发展奠定坚实基础。
长期以来，哈密立足本地独特的戍边历史资源，持续推动左宗棠文化系统化研究与创新性转化。当地依托左宗棠文化研究院，整合全国优质学术资源，搭建高层次学术交流平台，已连续两年开展专题学术研讨活动，持续深挖左公戍边文化的精神内核、历史价值与实践维度，推动戍边历史研究从史料梳理向实践赋能深度延伸。
D |
在学术研究之外，哈密坚持多维赋能文脉传承，推动戍边历史文化大众化、年轻化传播。
E | 当地联合专业创作团队，打造跨界融合舞台剧、主题音乐MV、连环画、专题纪录片、纪实文学等系列文艺作品，以艺术化、现代化的叙事方式还原戍边历史、诠释左公精神。同时，串联本地历史文旅资源，打造专属研学线路与主题课程，常态化开展沉浸式研学实践活动，推动历史文化融入城市发展与市民生活。
未来，哈密将持续深耕本地戍边历史资源，打通学术研究、文艺传播、研学体验多元传播链条，持续激活左公文化生命力，让百年戍边文脉持续焕发新生，为边疆文化建设、民族团结进步、区域长治久安持续注入深厚精神力量。(完)
【编辑:何颖】。
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