(Source: MIRS.news, Published 04/20/23) Within the next two years, schools and childcare centers throughout Michigan will need to convert to filtered faucets or filtered bottle-filling stations for drinking water, under legislation approved in the Senate Thursday.
SB 88 by Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) passed, 31-6, and SB 89 by Sen. John Cherry (D-Flint) passed, 30-7. Together, the bills create the "Clean Drinking Water Access Act," delivering a 15-month period for schools – public and private – to develop a drinking water safety plan, and a "drinking water management plan" for childcare centers.
Both plans must detail where water outlets will be located, establish a schedule for annual water sampling and testing and set forth how water filter cartridges will be regularly replaced. The different facilities would need to review and update their plan every five years.
For schools, the state's Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) must offer a template for drinking water safety plans, and must provide yearly training to school staff members and officials on how to appropriately sample drinking water and to report results.
Meanwhile, a local health department or the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) would be responsible for conducting a childcare center's water inspection at least once biannually.
"Our infrastructure is aging in the state of Michigan and throughout the country, and water is the one essential thing that we need to survive," Santana said to the media after today's Senate session, adding how the need for unfalteringly clean drinking water is additionally important as more parents return to the workforce following the COVID-19 pandemic and more children are enrolled into a childcare center.
Cherry represents Flint, where a nationally condemned change in the community's water supply source resulted in an estimated 14,000 youths 6 and younger being exposed to lead in their drinking water around six years later – based on one CBS report.
"Really, we have a responsibility to make sure the lessons that we learned in our community are helping all communities deal with those issues," Cherry said to the press. "It's just about protecting kids from lead exposure and helping them improve their lives through prevention."
According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), out of the 96,462 children who had a blood lead test in 2021, based on the MiTracking Data Portal, 3.5% had elevated blood lead levels (EBLL) of "3.5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL) or greater."
The 3,401 children with elevated blood lead levels does not account for children who did not undergo an EBLL at all in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic's lessening impact on participants.
The “Clean Drinking Water Access Act" also assembles a state fund dedicated to schools and childcare centers for clean drinking water. During the 2021-22 legislative term, the Governor approved legislation assigning $50 million in federal COVID-19 recovery dollars to a "Healthy Hydration" program led by EGLE.
Already, the program has set up a reimbursement program for school districts, nonpublic schools and childcare centers to seek compensation for expenses related to water filtration systems. While "Healthy Hydration" featured a 50% match requirement, Cherry clarified the legislation was amended to eliminate match requirements.
Sens. Roger Hauck (R-Union Twp.), Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton), Ruth Johnson (R-Holly), Jonathan LINDSEY (R-Brooklyn), Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) and Lana Theis (R-Brighton) opposed SB 88 dealing with childcare centers, and Sen. Jon Bumstead (R-North Muskegon) joined the same legislators in opposing SB 89 involving schools. The Senate Fiscal Agency (SFA) calculated that the cost to install filtered bottle-filling stations and filtered faucets for every school building and childcare center in Michigan could be between $78 million and $88 million.
The anticipated price tag for water sampling and testing could be between $3 million and $5 million.
