December 13, 2021

DALLAS – (Dec. 13, 2021) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded $1,087,000 to United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc (USET) to help identify sources of lead in drinking water in schools or childcare facilities. The funding will help protect children and advance the federal action plan to reduce childhood lead exposures. USET is a non-profit, inter-tribal organization comprised of 33 federally recognized Tribal Nations from the Northeastern Woodlands to the Everglades and across the Gulf of Mexico.

“Protecting children’s health is one of the most important aspects of EPA’s mission, and we could not fulfill this mission without the instrumental partnerships with our states and tribes,” said Acting Regional Administrator David Gray. “As part of Lead Poisoning Prevention Week and Children’s Health Month, EPA is excited to announce the WIIN grants to help reduce lead in school drinking waters and protect children where they learn and play.”

“Children are precious and are the future of our people, carrying with them the prayers and hopes of seven generations. Their safety and well-being are paramount to our continued perseverance as a people,” said Chief Kirk Francis, Penobscot Nation, President of United South and Eastern Tribes. “Accordingly, we are committed to support our USET member Tribal nations to eliminate lead exposure from all sources, considering that there is no known level of lead exposure that is considered safe.”

USET’s funding was awarded under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act for states, territories, and Tribal nations to test for lead in schools and childcare facilities. The Voluntary Lead Testing in Schools and Child Care Drinking Water grant program continues to help protect children’s health and make progress under the Federal Action Plan to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposures.

The grants support EPA’s action plan for reducing lead in school drinking water—Training, Testing, and Taking Action, or the 3 Ts. This toolkit helps prepare schools, child care facilities, and states to build a voluntary implementation program to reduce lead levels in drinking water with detailed training modules and materials. Learn more about the 3 Ts here: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/3ts-reducing-lead-drinking-water

EPA’s Children’s Health program highlights how children can be more vulnerable to pollutants than adults, which can lead to greater exposure and/or unique windows of susceptibility during development. This is especially true of lead—an exposure that would have little effect on an adult can have a significant effect on a child. In fetuses, infants and children, low levels of exposure have been linked to damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing, and impaired formation and function of blood cells. Lead in drinking water is one of the main ways children can be exposed to lead.

Learn more about and EPA’s WIIN grant programs at https://www.epa.gov/dwcapacity/wiin-grant-lead-testing-school-and-child-care-program-drinking-water

Learn more about lead exposure and other children’s health issues at https://www.epa.gov/children

Results of USET’s testing program are available here: https://www.usetinc.org/departments/oerm/

 

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