New law requires Missouri schools to test water for lead

CLEVER, Mo. (KY3) - If you don’t know how much lead is in the water at your child’s school, you will soon. A new law goes into effect this school year requiring schools to not only test the water for lead but to do something about it if it’s too high.

Clever Schools Operations Manager Willie Howard says the high school was built in the early 1930s, but frequent upgrades mean no lead pipes.

“Over the years, pipes break, things, things get changed,” said Howard. “We’ve just recently started using this building again for our students. And so you know, we’re taking walls out, we’re moving stuff around, we’re changing pipes out. So we know, kind of what what we’re dealing with in most of the walls.”

Linda Eutsler, who had kids and great-grandkids in the Missouri school system, says the tests are a fantastic idea.

“I just think it’s a great law.,” said Eutsler. “I know it is probably going to make a strain on some of the school systems, especially in small communities like this. But I think it’s something that we need to do.”

According to the law, schools must publish the results on their websites two weeks after testing.

If there is more than one part per billion of lead in the tests, schools must work on a solution like filters or bottled water to make the water safer. Clever says it’s not something they plan to deal with right now.

" I think we’re in a good spot with everything we have that we don’t need to plan for the water bottles right now,” said Howard. “Now, that could come back later on. They said, Hey, this, something happened. We’ve got to do it. So we’ll, we’ll make adjustments then.”

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