Tell the Governor to support House Bill 272 and ensure clean drinking water for our kids

Our children need safe drinking water. Yet lead is contaminating drinking water at schools and child care facilities across the country and throughout North Carolina. House Bill 272 would lower the allowable level of lead in drinking water at child care facilities. This bill is sitting on Governor Cooper's desk and we need your help to get as much support for this bill as possible to ensure that it becomes law.

There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics urge water providers to strive for zero lead in children's drinking water, but current North Carolina law defines lead as a hazard for children only when it reaches 15 parts per billion. This standard was written over 20 years ago and needs to be updated.

Tell Governor Cooper to sign House Bill 272 and protect our children from lead poisoning.

Subject: Protect our children from lead and sign HB 272 into law

Your Letter:

Our children need safe drinking water -- yet lead is contaminating drinking water at schools and child care facilities across the country and right here in North Carolina. House Bill 272 would lower the allowable level of lead in drinking water at child care facilities. As a North Carolinian, I am reaching out to ask you to support this important piece of legislation and sign it into law.

Lead is a potent neurotoxin that affects how our children learn, grow, and behave. Even low levels of lead exposure have been linked to damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing, and impaired formation and function of blood cells.

Unfortunately, some sources of lead exposure still remain, including lead pipes and plumbing fixtures that are still in use. As detection improves and we learn more about the negative health effects of lead, it is critical that we keep the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention statute up to date.

There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the American Academy of Pediatrics urge water providers to strive for zero lead in children's drinking water. Current NC statute requires remediation of lead only when it reaches 15 parts per billion, but this standard was written over 20 years ago and needs to be updated.

House Bill 272 would lower the lead hazard level to 10 parts per billion. Updating the definition of child's drinking water lead hazard is an important step to eliminating childhood lead poisoning in North Carolina. Please sign HB 272 into law.

Sincerely,

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