Get the Lead Out of School Drinking Water Act
In 2022, the Missouri legislature passed the Get the Lead Out of School Drinking Water Act (RSMo 160.077), which sets standards for lead concentrations in school drinking water. The law requires schools to conduct inventory, sampling, remediation and monitoring at all potable drinking water outlets used or potentially being used for drinking, food preparation and cooking or cleaning utensils. The deadline under the law was Aug. 1, 2024.
The Brentwood School District conducted an inventory of all drinking water outlets and all outlets used for dispensing water for cooking or cleaning of cooking and eating utensils in each school. Testing was conducted by a qualified firm on an agreed-upon timeline, with the firm providing the testing results within the time frame set forth for publication and subsequent notification of lead levels.
Under the law, testing results must be communicated directly with families, posted on the district website and reported to the Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently has a standard lead drinking water limit of 15 micrograms per liter (µg/L) of lead in water. However, Missouri law requires all schools to achieve a 5 µg/L lead limit in water.
Testing Results by School
Brentwood partnered with Geotechnology, LLC, a licensed environmental consulting firm, to conduct comprehensive water testing at all schools. Testing was performed in the summer of 2024 and involved sampling potable water outlets used for drinking, cooking and cleaning utensils. The process followed the EPA’s “first-draw” method, which includes flushing, a stagnation period, and collecting the first 250 millimeters of water from each outlet.
Click on each school’s name below to view the summary of findings. Please contact Andrew Hartnett, director of facilities, at ahartnett@brentwoodmoschools.org if you have any questions.