House Passes Gottheimer Provision Protecting Children from Dangerous Lead Water -- Gottheimer Continues Fight for Public Disclosure of Lead Water Testing

Statement

On Tuesday, July 21, 2020, the House passed bipartisan legislation that included U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer's (NJ-5) provision to publicize lead water testing results at K-12 schools on American military bases both in the U.S. and abroad. His amendment will provide military families with transparency about their children's drinking water.

The legislation ensures public disclosure of results from lead and copper testing at Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) K-12 military base schools.

Earlier this week, Gottheimer spoke on the House floor urging support for this provision.

"Every child deserves to drink water that's free of lead and dangerous materials, and all parents -- especially including brave servicemembers living on bases here and abroad -- deserve to know if their child's water at school is safe," said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), a member of the House Financial Services Committee's National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy Subcommittee. "With the House passing my provision today, we are taking a vital step to protect children and families from lead water -- something for which I've been fighting for years."

Since 2017, Gottheimer has been pushing for transparency on lead water testing in schools in New Jersey, calling on the State to create a centralized reporting website and to enforce its school lead testing requirements.

In October 2019, Gottheimer joined New Jersey officials to announce clear steps to provide parents and communities with easy-to-access and up-to-date information on dangerous lead water in their children's schools.

In November 2019, following Gottheimer's urging, the State of New Jersey announced a new database website that provides parents and communities with school lead water test results.

In 2018, a key piece of Gottheimer's bipartisan Lead-Free Schools Act was enacted into law, creating a targeted pilot program with existing resources to improve drinking water infrastructure in schools nationwide with lead in their water.

Source