But even with these two new pools of money intended to last two years, the state’s schools may struggle to remove all but the most dangerous sources of lead, considering about half the schools that tested their water between July 2020 and February 2022 found high lead levels. Medical experts say no amount of lead is safe to ingest.

“When you start replacing faucets and drinking fountains in the hundreds of schools that we have in Montana, that gets eaten up pretty quickly,” said Democratic state Rep. Paul Tuss, who added the state funding to an infrastructure bill passed this spring.

If the total were divided evenly among the approximately 590 schools that need to meet the state’s new lead testing rules, each school would receive less than $8,000 from the state to test and upgrade its faucets, pipes and water fountains. The state already knows that 110 schools have had at least one water fixture with lead levels of 15 parts per billion or higher, three times the level that requires action under Montana rules.

Most schools with lead levels over the state limit could address their “exceedances” with the state money, according to state Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson Moira Davin. “Our plan is to address as many schools as possible with this funding,” she said.

But part of the challenge for Montana is that it doesn’t yet know how extensive a problem its schools have. More than a fifth of the state’s schools facing the new rules — 129 facilities — hadn’t completed any sampling as of Aug. 3, said Greg Montgomery, the director of the department’s Lead in Schools program. And replacing a single school’s pipes can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“We are not talking about solving the whole problem here,” said Levin, who worked on lead exposure during her nearly 40 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Lead is particularly harmful to children and can lead to brain and nervous system damage and slowed development and growth. It typically gets into drinking water in schools through piping or fixtures. A 2020 state rule requires schools to test water supplies every three years. If lead concentrations surpass 5 parts per billion, fixtures must be addressed — and shut off if higher than 15 ppb.

Jessica Reyes, an economics professor at Amherst College, said prioritizing fountains or pipes with high lead levels after a “first draw” test could help a lot. The test measures lead in water the first time a faucet is turned on for the day, after the water’s been sitting in a pipe all night. That sample provides the best data to pinpoint the greatest risks, she said.

Running all faucets for a few minutes before kids get to school is quite protective for kids, Reyes added, because the quantity of lead diminishes as the water runs. But Reyes likes to imagine a kindergartner who gets to school early for free breakfast and drinks from a water fountain before anyone in the building clears the pipes.

“Everything kids need to grow — lead is the opposite of those,” Reyes said.

Montana officials will decide how to distribute the money from the legislature, reimbursing schools for costs such as installing new faucets, water filters, plumbing and water bottle filling stations. The federal grant, meanwhile, will be used for covering costs related to testing, Montgomery said.

Schools will have to participate in the state’s Lead in Schools program by sampling their drinking water to get any of the state funding, he said, and they won’t be able to use the money on projects completed before the state bill was signed into law.

Montgomery said the amount available to schools would depend on whether they have any fixtures over the “action level,” or fixtures with lead concentrations over 5 ppb. Funding will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis, he said.

Even if a school doesn’t have high samples of lead in its test results, Montgomery said, it could seek money to install water bottle filling stations with filters. Schools could also use the money for larger projects such as replacing piping, but, Montgomery said, the state will set a limit on how much each school can get. And, he said, it’s unlikely the money will be able to cover something like a $100,000 pipe replacement project.

The goal is to make money available to all schools, regardless of size, and ensure a couple of schools aren’t “gobbling” the entire amount, Montgomery said. That means schools with extensive issues will likely need to pick which areas to fix.

“We want to make sure the small schools have equal footing as the large schools,” Montgomery said.

Many Montana schools have already launched remediation projects after receiving high lead results.

One sink at Skyview High School in Billings had one of the highest levels of lead detected in schools across the state. Scott Reiter, the executive director of facilities for Billings Public Schools, said the sink was in a control room in the auditorium and people rarely used it. After the results came in, the fixture was removed to make the sink unusable.

On a larger scale, he said, all cold-water piping for drinking and sinks was replaced at Rimrock Learning Center in Billings last summer. Reiter said the school had been remodeled and all fixtures replaced about five years ago, so when lead was detected all over the school, it was clear it wasn’t just one fixture.

“We knew that it had to be in the lines,” Reiter said.

Reiter said the school district used leftover money from a 2013 elementary school district bond to replace Rimrock’s pipes, which he estimated cost $100,000.

While Reiter said he was disappointed costs from the Rimrock pipe replacements and other projects that have already happened couldn’t be reimbursed retroactively, he welcomed the state’s additional funding. “Any help to the schools for something like this is great,” he said.

The Great Falls Public Schools district also exemplifies how extensive and expensive such work can be. The district used $19,511 from an earlier $40,000 state allocation for drinking fountains, water bottle fillers and filters across schools in the district, said Brian Patrick, its director of business services and operations. He said the district also got 783 tests covered by the state, each costing $25.

His district used a bond passed in 2017 to fund a pipe replacement at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, where 23 tests came in at 5 ppb or higher. The pipes were replaced last summer, Patrick said, costing $411,252.

“It doesn’t get fixed in one fell swoop,” Patrick said.

2022年9月14日0—24时，无新增本土新冠肺炎确诊病例和无症状感染者。新增境外输入性新冠肺炎确诊病例8例和无症状感染者2例，均在闭环管控中发现。本土病例情况2022年9月14日0—24时，无新增本土新冠肺炎确诊病例。本土无症状感染者情况2022年9月14日0—24时，无新增本土无症状感染者。境外输入病例情况2022年9月14日0—24时，通过口岸联防联控机制，报告8例境外输入性新冠肺炎确诊病例。治愈出院6例，其中来自美国2例，来自新加坡1例，来自阿根廷1例，来自加拿大1例，来自英国1例。

三 | 病例1 为中国籍，在斯里兰卡生活，自斯里兰卡出发，于2022年9月10日抵达上海浦东国际机场，入关后即被集中隔离观察，其间出现症状。综合流行病学史、临床症状、实验室检测和影像学检查结果等，诊断为确诊病例。病例2 为中国籍，在新西兰工作，自新西兰出发，于2022年9月10日抵达上海浦东国际机场，入关后即被集中隔离观察，其间出现症状。

四 | 综合流行病学史、临床症状、实验室检测和影像学检查结果等，诊断为确诊病例。病例3—病例6 均为中国籍，病例3、病例4在美国留学，病例5、病例6在美国工作，病例3—病例6自美国出发，乘坐同一航班，于2022年9月10日抵达上海浦东国际机场，入关后即被集中隔离观察，其间出现症状。

五 | 综合流行病学史、临床症状、实验室检测和影像学检查结果等，诊断为确诊病例。病例7 为中国籍，在韩国旅行，自韩国出发，于2022年9月12日抵达上海浦东国际机场，入关后即被集中隔离观察，其间出现症状。综合流行病学史、临床症状、实验室检测和影像学检查结果等，诊断为确诊病例。

六 | 病例8 为中国籍，在加拿大留学，自加拿大出发，于2022年9月12日抵达上海浦东国际机场，入关后即被集中隔离观察，其间出现症状。综合流行病学史、临床症状、实验室检测和影像学检查结果等，诊断为确诊病例。8例境外输入性确诊病例已转至定点医疗机构救治，已追踪同航班密切接触者32人，均已落实集中隔离观察。境外输入性无症状感染者情况2022年9月14日0—24时，新增境外输入性无症状感染者2例。无症状感染者1 为中国籍，在美国生活，自美国出发，经香港转机，于2022年9月10日抵达上海浦东国际机场，入关后即被集中隔离观察，其间例行核酸检测异常。经排查，区疾控中心新冠病毒核酸检测结果为阳性。综合流行病学史、临床症状、实验室检测和影像学检查结果等，诊断为无症状感染者。无症状感染者2 为美国籍，在美国工作，自美国出发，于2022年9月10日抵达上海浦东国际机场，入关后即被集中隔离观察，其间例行核酸检测异常。经排查，区疾控中心新冠病毒核酸检测结果为阳性。综合流行病学史、临床症状、实验室检测和影像学检查结果等，诊断为无症状感染者。2例境外输入性无症状感染者已转至定点医疗机构医学观察，同航班密切接触者此前均已落实集中隔离观察。2022年9月14日0—24时，解除医学观察无症状感染者11例，其中本土无症状感染者2例，境外输入性无症状感染者9例。2022年7月3日0时至2022年9月14日24时，累计本土确诊171例，治愈出院189例，在院治疗6例，死亡0例；无症状感染者745例。现有待排查的疑似病例0例。截至2022年9月14日24时，累计境外输入性确诊病例5264例，出院5174例，在院治疗90例。现有待排查的疑似病例0例。

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