In a 9-0 vote, the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee approved a bill Monday that would require Lake County schools to test drinking water for lead.
The bill, proposed by Sens. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, Rick Niemeyer, R-Cedar Lake, and Mark Stoops, D-Bloomington, would require the testing of drinking water in every Lake County school every other year.
During Monday’s committee meeting, Randolph said that toward the later part of the 1950s and 1960s, Northwest Indiana residents “started noticing health issues ... because of heavy industry in the area."
Specifically, in East Chicago, soil contamination from a lead plant resulted in lead in water, Randolph said.
Originally, Randolph said he drafted a bill to require testing of drinking water in East Chicago and Hammond schools. But, after discussing the bill with Niemeyer, they agreed to expand the bill to include all of Lake County because Niemeyer said he heard of lead concerns in his district.
The proposed bill would require that lead testing become mandatory in schools, because research has shown that long-term exposure to lead affects a child’s development, Randolph said.
“You never know when lead is going to creep into the water,” Randolph said.
To cover the cost of testing, Randolph said schools would be able to apply for grants through the Indiana Finance Authority, which has $750,000 set aside for lead testing.
There are 122 schools in Lake County, and testing for lead in all the schools would cost $194,000, Randolph said.
“It’s not a very expensive procedure at all,” Randolph said.
Sen. Andy Zay, R-Huntington, said he was “a little cautious” about requiring schools to complete more reports.
Zay questioned whether there is already a requirement that utilities have to test their water for lead and then report the findings to anyone affected.
“I just don’t want to be redundant and put more on the schools,” Zay said.
Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, said that water leaving a water plant can be “perfectly clean,” but it can become contaminated with lead when passing old lead pipes and fixtures in the schools.
Niemeyer said he supports the bill because it allows testing to begin to understand how much lead is in the school drinking water and the gravity of the issue.
“I think it’s a great start, like a pilot program in Lake County,” Niemeyer said.
Some of the senators on the committee voiced their support for making the bill statewide, which Niemeyer and Randolph said they would support as well.
Four people testified in support of the bill, including Indra Frank, of the Hoosier Environmental Council.
“There are old enough buildings in Indiana to have lead pipes and fixtures,” Frank said.
Megan Glover, the CEO of 120WaterAudit, said that because lead pipes weren’t banned until 1986, Indiana homes and schools can still have lead pipes, which can lead to lead contamination.
The committee should support the bill, Glover said, because about half of the states in the country have regulation on schools testing drinking water for lead.
“We’re not reinventing anything that’s not already out there,” Glover said.
The bill will be presented to the full Senate for debate and vote.
Copyright © 2024, Chicago Tribune