After finding lead in drinking water, Pittsburgh Public Schools replaces every antiquated drinking fountain

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Lead is a potent environmental neurotoxin, and there is no safe level for exposure. So eight years ago, when Pittsburgh Public Schools found lead in the water students were drinking from fountains, they took action.

On Monday, environmental groups said schools across Pennsylvania and the country should follow their lead.

Back in 2016, Pittsburgh Public Schools made a commitment to "systematically replacing every single antiquated drinking fountain with lead filtering water bottle filling stations and lead filtering drinking fountains in every school building across the district," said David Masur, PennEnvironment's executive director.

Eight years, 70 school buildings and 1,295 drinking fountains and bottle filling stations later, they've achieved their goal.

"Pittsburgh is now the gold standard when it comes to tackling the threat of lead in school drinking water across the country," Masur said.

Last November, KDKA Investigates reported about how 91% of Pennsylvania schools had lead in their water. And when Pittsburgh Public Schools voluntarily tested their water in 2016, they found nearly 3% of samples came back with lead over the recommended threshold.

"We know that children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of lead harming their learning, development and behavior," Masur said.

But digging up and replacing old lead lines, many in school buildings built more than a century ago, would be wildly expensive, time consuming and wouldn't even guarantee to eliminate the lead.

So they thought outside the pipes. On Monday, to kick off National Drinking Water Week, the district is announcing the completion of its main Filter First campaign. And students are given free water bottles to fill up at the stations, something fifth grader Onyu Baek said she loves.

"There's digital counters in our school water fountain which counts how many bottles they save by drinking in the water fountain," she said.

And the district isn't stopping there. Sanjeeb Manandhar, PPS' environmental and sustainability manager, says the filter system is letting them plan ahead to new safety features in the pipeline, like filtering out the "forever chemicals," or PFAs.

"We are able to retrofit those in our units, which we are considering starting possibly next year," Manandhar said.

The whole project is something Onyu and her fellow students say is very refreshing.

"I really wish everybody in the world could have clean water," she said.

KDKA-TV producer Tory Wegerski contributed to this report.