This document provides an overview of the steps school officials should take to implement programs and policies to reduce children's exposure to lead in drinking water in schools. This serves as a companion document to the revised technical guidance.

This booklet is designed for small child care facilities to help them ensure the drinking water in their buildings does not contain elevated levels of lead.

This guide is intended for use by school officials and child care providers responsible for the maintenance and/or safety of school and child care facilities including the drinking water. The purpose of this guide is to describe the importance of implementing best management practices for drinking water in schools and child care facilities and how a school or child care facility would go about implementing these practices. This guide is specifically designed for schools and child care facilities that have their own well and, therefore, are classified as a public water system. This guide is not a regulation itself, nor does it change or substitute for those provisions and regulations. Thus, it does not impose legally binding requirements on EPA, states, public water systems, schools or child care facilities. This guide does not confer legal rights or impose legal obligations upon any member of the public. While EPA has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information in this guide the obligations of the regulated community are determined by statutes, regulations or other legally binding requirements. In the event of a conflict between the information in this guide and any statues or regulation, this document would not be controlling.

Children are susceptible to adverse health effects from lead, such as impaired mental development, IQ deficits, shorter attention span, and lower birth weight. Exposure to lead is a significant health concern, particularly for young children and infants whose growing bodies tend to absorb more lead than the average adult. Testing water in schools and day care facilities is important because children spend a significant portion of their days in these facilities and likely consume water while there. Appended is a list of EPA materials on managing lead in school drinking water, letter to states, and summary of responses.