My children were schooled for the first time this spring, after being homeschooled for 3-4 years. About 6 weeks after starting school, they both began to complain about stomach aches. Before they ate, after they ate, and any time in between, I heard the complaints often. At first I blamed the poor quality food they received at lunch. About a week after summer vacation started, I noticed that the complaints stopped. Now I'm not sure what caused the problem, but I'm growing suspicious of the water at the school. At home, we drink distilled water. Our community is known for high nitrate water, and with old pipes at the school we could be talking about lead or copper levels beyond what children should be drinking.
So I started wondering. I was told at some point that restaurants are required to filter their drinking water. I don't know if this is true or not, but from my research I have discovered no such protection for children in schools. As a matter of fact, I found scary stuff that makes me look into this matter further. Here are some links I found if you would like to read more. Keep in mind as you read that the EPA allows a certain level of contaminants in municipal drinking water. As a parent of young kids with developing minds and bodies, I do not agree that they should be drinking ANY level of contaminants.
Also, I do not believe that we should demand that the government spend millions of dollars to fix OUR children's drinking water. My point is that I want to know how bad the water is and if there is anything in place to clean it. If not, the community needs to come up with a solution. I will be writing more on this in the future!
Drinking Water Unsafe at Thousands of Schools
Senate Hearing on Safer School Water Quality Standards with EPA
EPA announces new policies on water quality at schools
Drinking Water Testing and InformationFor Water Well Homeowners, Private Water Well Owners, Realtors, Plumbing Contractors, Water Well Drillers
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