The Daily Drip

The Lead

Long Island, NYWater in schools1The right to safety

Under the line isn’t lead-free.

What’s going on

Across Nassau and Suffolk, 1,031 of 22,345 school water fixtures tested above New York’s 5 parts per billion lead standard, according to a Newsday report Citizens Campaign for the Environment shared Nov. 2. About a third of schools in each county had at least one outlet over the line. Statewide, a study by Environment America Research & Policy Center, NYPIRG and Frontier Group found 42% of public schools had one. It calls for filters on every drinking and cooking tap and a 1 ppb limit after filtering.

Our take

Legal isn’t clean. A tap at 4 ppb passes New York’s test, while the study’s authors want 1 ppb after filtering. These are the taps kids drink from at school. Ask your district for every tap’s result, not just the ones that failed, and whether filters are on the taps used for drinking and cooking. Get the answers in writing.

Read the original reporting: Citizens Campaign for the Environment (Newsday report)

What you can do

1. Ask for every tap’s lead resultGet the words

   To: your school district. Fill in the brackets, then send it by email or read it at a meeting.

   Hi, my child attends [school]. Please send the most recent lead results for every drinking and cooking tap, including taps under the state limit, and tell me which taps have lead-capturing filters and when they were last changed. Please answer in writing. Thank you.Copy the words
2. Bring water testing to your schoolOpen
3. Check what’s in your waterEnter your ZIP

The Guardian DeclarationBecome a Guardian. It’s free. Sign the Declaration and get The Right to Know.AquaCivics™ tableHost a table on Water in schools. We’ll bring the data.

Today’s Action · two minutes

Ask for every tap’s lead result

One email puts every tap’s lead number on the record, not just the ones that failed.

To: your school district. Fill in the brackets, then send it by email or read it at a meeting.

Hi, my child attends [school]. Please send the most recent lead results for every drinking and cooking tap, including taps under the state limit, and tell me which taps have lead-capturing filters and when they were last changed. Please answer in writing. Thank you.Copy the words

1. United StatesPFAS, the forever chemicals1The right to safety

   Counted as zero.

   A new study says PFAS levels in U.S. drinking water may average about twice what’s been reported, because low test results get counted as zero.

   Our take, and what you can do

   What’s going on

   About 98% of roughly 1.86 million EPA drinking water PFAS results fell below reporting limits, and those results are often treated as zero, Nature World News reports on a study in Cell Reports Sustainability led by a Texas Christian University researcher. For the six PFAS with 2024 federal limits, the modeled average was 5.2 ng/L, versus 2.6 ng/L with low results counted as zero. Only a few dozen more sampling locations crossed EPA benchmarks for PFOA and PFOS. The lead author said the work doesn’t establish that every below-limit result poses a health risk.

   Our take

   “Not detected” doesn’t always mean not there. It can mean below what the lab reports. Ask your utility for its PFAS results with the reporting limit next to each one, so you can see what a non-detect really means for your tap.

   Read the original reporting: Nature World News

   What you can do

   1. Ask which PFAS your utility testsGet the words

      To: your water utility. Fill in the brackets, then send it by email or read it at a meeting.

      Hi, I’m a customer at [your address]. Which PFAS does our water system test for, how often, and what were the latest results for each? What’s the plan if any are over the limits? Please answer in writing. Thank you.Copy the words
   2. See your system’s PFAS results (EPA UCMR 5)Opens the tool
   3. Check what’s in your waterEnter your ZIP

   The Guardian DeclarationBecome a Guardian. It’s free. Sign the Declaration and get The Right to Know.AquaCivics™ tableHost a table on PFAS, the forever chemicals. We’ll bring the data.
2. United StatesPFAS, the forever chemicalsSettlements and claims6The right to redress

   $7.35 billion, nine years.

   3M agreed to pay $7.35 billion over nine years to settle PFAS personal injury claims. It covers almost all of the 115,000 to 120,000 claims in federal court in South Carolina.

   Our take, and what you can do

   What’s going on

   3M will pay $7.35 billion over nine years to resolve almost all of the 115,000 to 120,000 PFAS personal injury claims being litigated in federal court in South Carolina, Claims Journal reports, citing Bloomberg. The schedule: $50 million in 2026, nothing in 2027, and about 20% of payments due in the final two years. CEO William Brown said the deal “substantially reduces litigation uncertainty.”

   Our take

   A settlement settles claims. It doesn’t clean a single tap. Paying out over nine years doesn’t change what’s in your water today. Ask your utility which PFAS it tests for, what it found and what it’s doing about them.

   Read the original reporting: Claims Journal (Bloomberg)

   What you can do

   1. Ask which PFAS your utility testsGet the words

      To: your water utility. Fill in the brackets, then send it by email or read it at a meeting.

      Hi, I’m a customer at [your address]. Which PFAS does our water system test for, how often, and what were the latest results for each? What’s the plan if any are over the limits? Please answer in writing. Thank you.Copy the words
   2. Look up your system’s recordOpens the tool
   3. Share this storyShare

   The Guardian DeclarationBecome a Guardian. It’s free. Sign the Declaration and get The Right to Know.AquaCivics™ tableHost a table on PFAS, the forever chemicals. We’ll bring the data.
3. Emporia, KSData centers and our water4The right to be heard

   Emporia put a limit on the books.

   Emporia, Kansas, voters approved a ban on high-impact data centers, 4,346 to 2,891, WIBW reports.

   Our take, and what you can do

   What’s going on

   Emporia residents voted 4,346 to 2,891 on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to ban high-impact data centers in the city, WIBW reports. The measure covers facilities with a peak electrical load of 10 megawatts and facilities over a daily water-use limit set in the measure. A yes vote supported prohibiting high-impact data center construction in the city.

   Our take

   Voters wrote a water and power limit into city law. That’s what being heard looks like. Not in Emporia? Ask your county what any proposed data center would draw, from which source and who meters it, in writing, before anyone votes.

   Read the original reporting: WIBW 13 News

   What you can do

   1. Ask for the data center’s water numbersGet the words

      To: your county commission. Fill in the brackets, then send it by email or read it at a meeting.

      Hi, I live at [your address]. For the data center proposed or operating in our county: how many gallons a day will it use at full build, from which source, who meters it, and is any of it covered by a nondisclosure agreement? Please answer in writing before the vote. Thank you.Copy the words
   2. See what’s planned near youOpen
   3. Share this storyShare

   The Guardian DeclarationBecome a Guardian. It’s free. Sign the Declaration and get The Right to Know.AquaCivics™ tableHost a table on Data centers and our water. We’ll bring the data.

Today’s water, by right

Every story is filed under one of the eight consumer rights. Today’s edition touched 3 of the eight; each glass fills with its stories. This count feeds the AquaRights Index™.

1. 2
   The right to safety
2. 0
   The right to be informed
3. 0
   The right to choose
4. 1
   The right to be heard
5. 0
   The right to basic needs
6. 1
   The right to redress
7. 0
   The right to education
8. 0
   The right to a healthy environment

Guardian Season · Mar 15 – Jun 5, 2027

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Sign the Guardian Declaration and get The Right to Know, the eight rights behind every glass of water, plus The Daily Drip every weekday morning.

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