How Far Will Montana’s Push to Remove Lead from School Drinking Water Go?

Montana’s legislature designated $3.7 million this spring to remove lead from school drinking-water supplies, then the state received $565,000 more on Aug. 1 from the $50 billion federal infrastructure package aiming to improve water systems nationally.

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 schoolsthat tested their water between July 2020 and February 2022 found high lead levels. Medical experts say no amount of lead is safe to ingest.