The School Drinking Water Report: What Federal Data Shows About Lead Testing in US Schools (2026)

What this page is. A primary-sourced account of what federal data shows about lead testing in United States school drinking water, built from the Government Accountability Office‘s national survey of school districts, EPA’s 3Ts programme and Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act grant reporting. The central finding of this page is a gap rather than a number. The only national survey of school district lead testing was conducted for school year 2016 to 2017 and published in 2018. No comparable national survey has been published since. Every figure below is labelled with the year it describes. That data void makes it harder to judge how school plumbing connects to broader infrastructure concerns, including state-level lead service line projections.

The short answer, expanded

• The Government Accountability Office found that 43 percent of US school districts, serving approximately 35 million students, tested for lead in drinking water during school year 2016 to 2017.
• Among districts that tested, 37 percent found elevated lead levels.
• 41 percent of districts, serving approximately 12 million students, had not tested in the 12 months before responding to the survey. A further 16 percent did not know whether they had tested.
• Every district that reported finding elevated lead also reported taking action, including replacing fountains, installing filters or new fixtures, or providing bottled water.
• At least 8 states required schools to test for lead as of 2017. At least 13 more supported voluntary testing with funding or in-kind support.
• EPA reports that since 2019 its grant programme has helped nearly 13,000 schools and more than 20,000 child care facilities have water tested for lead.
• EPA reports that more than 2,500 schools and more than 1,300 child care facilities completed remediation over the same period.
• EPA states it has provided more than 200 million dollars since 2018 to reduce lead in drinking water where children learn, including 26 million dollars announced in June 2025.
• There is no federal requirement that most US schools test drinking water for lead. Testing under the EPA programme is voluntary, and the national picture has not been re-surveyed in roughly a decade.

The evidence

1. 43 percent of US school districts tested for lead in drinking water in school year 2016 to 2017. Source: US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018.
2. Districts that tested served approximately 35 million students. Source: US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018.
3. 37 percent of districts that tested found elevated lead levels. Source: US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018.
4. 41 percent of districts, serving approximately 12 million students, had not tested in the prior 12 months. Source: US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018.
5. 16 percent of districts did not know whether they had tested. Source: US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018.
6. All districts reporting elevated lead reported taking remedial action. Source: US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018.
7. At least 8 states required school lead testing as of 2017. Source: US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018.
8. At least 13 additional states supported voluntary district testing with funding or in-kind support as of 2017. Source: US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018.
9. The GAO report is titled K-12 Education: Lead Testing of School Drinking Water Would Benefit from Improved Federal Guidance. Source: US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018.
10. EPA’s 3Ts framework stands for Training, Testing and Taking Action. Source: US Environmental Protection Agency, 3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water.
11. Grant funding for voluntary school testing is authorised under Section 2107 of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act. Source: US Environmental Protection Agency, WIIN Grant: Lead Testing in School and Child Care Program Drinking Water.
12. EPA announced 26 million dollars for states and territories under the Voluntary School and Child Care Lead Testing and Reduction Grant Program in June 2025. Source: US Environmental Protection Agency, June 2025.
13. EPA states it has provided more than 200 million dollars since 2018 to reduce lead exposure in schools and child care facilities. Source: US Environmental Protection Agency, June 2025.
14. Since 2019, nearly 13,000 schools and more than 20,000 child care facilities have had water tested through the programme. Source: US Environmental Protection Agency, June 2025.
15. Over the same period, more than 2,500 schools and more than 1,300 child care facilities completed remediation. Source: US Environmental Protection Agency, June 2025.

Section 1: The only national picture, and how old it is

The Government Accountability Office surveyed a nationally representative sample of US school districts and published the results in 2018 as GAO-18-382. That survey remains the only national measurement of how many US school districts test their drinking water for lead.

Measure	Share of districts	Students affected	School year
Tested for lead	43 percent	approximately 35 million	2016 to 2017
Had not tested in prior 12 months	41 percent	approximately 12 million	2016 to 2017
Did not know whether they had tested	16 percent	not stated	2016 to 2017
Found elevated lead, among those that tested	37 percent	not stated	2016 to 2017

How to cite this responsibly. These figures describe school year 2016 to 2017. They are frequently quoted in current coverage without a date attached, which presents decade-old measurements as a current national picture. Any citation of the 43 percent or 37 percent figures should carry the school year.

Section 2: What has happened since

Federal activity since the GAO survey has been programme-based rather than survey-based. EPA has funded voluntary testing through the WIIN Act and reports cumulative participation counts, but participation counts are not the same measurement as a representative national survey and cannot be converted into one.

Measure	Figure	Period	Source
Schools with water tested through the programme	nearly 13,000	since 2019	US EPA
Child care facilities with water tested	more than 20,000	since 2019	US EPA
Schools completing remediation	more than 2,500	since 2019	US EPA
Child care facilities completing remediation	more than 1,300	since 2019	US EPA
Federal funding provided	more than 200 million dollars	since 2018	US EPA
Most recent announced grant round	26 million dollars	June 2025	US EPA

Section 3: Why testing is not universal

There is no general federal requirement that US schools test drinking water for lead. Most schools are not themselves public water systems. A school that receives water from a municipal utility is a customer of that system, and the Safe Drinking Water Act obligations sit with the utility, which samples at a set of sites across its service area rather than at every building it serves. Lead that enters water from a school building’s own internal plumbing and fixtures is therefore outside the routine compliance sampling of the supplying utility.

That is the structural reason EPA’s school programme is voluntary and grant-funded, and the reason state requirements vary. As of 2017 the GAO identified at least 8 states requiring testing and at least 13 more supporting it voluntarily.

Limitation. State requirements have changed since 2017 and this page does not present a current 50-state count. Compiling one is original collection work that has not been done here, and no current federal tally was located.

What the numbers imply

Derived finding 1: The national evidence base is roughly a decade old

Formula. Elapsed time between the school year measured by the only national survey and the present date.

Calculation. School year 2016 to 2017, published 2018, against September 2026. The measured period is approximately nine to ten years old and the publication is approximately eight years old.

Finding. Every widely cited national statistic about lead testing in US school drinking water describes school year 2016 to 2017. No comparable national survey has been published since.

Inputs. US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018.

Limitations. This finding asserts that no comparable national survey was located, not that none exists. EPA programme participation data exists for later years but measures programme uptake rather than national testing prevalence, and the two are not interchangeable.

Derived finding 2: Roughly one in six districts could not answer the question

Formula. Share of surveyed districts reporting they did not know whether testing had occurred.

Calculation. 16 percent of districts, as reported by GAO for school year 2016 to 2017.

Finding. Approximately one in six US school districts could not say whether their drinking water had been tested for lead. This is distinct from districts that had not tested, which were a further 41 percent.

Inputs. US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018.

Limitations. Self-reported survey data. A district responding that it did not know may still have been tested by its water utility or by an individual school without district-level records.

Derived finding 3: Programme reach against the school population

Formula. Schools tested through the EPA grant programme, set against the approximate number of US schools, with both figures stated rather than combined into a rate.

Calculation. EPA reports nearly 13,000 schools tested through the programme since 2019. This page does not divide that figure by a national school count. Anyone estimating the scale of the problem might also want background on lead service line estimates nationwide.

Finding. EPA’s voluntary programme has reached nearly 13,000 schools since 2019. Whether that represents broad or narrow coverage depends on a national school denominator that EPA does not publish alongside the figure, and on how many schools test outside the programme under state requirements or their own initiative.

Inputs. US Environmental Protection Agency, June 2025.

Limitations. This finding deliberately stops short of a percentage. Computing one would require combining an EPA programme count with an unrelated school census and would imply a precision neither source supports. Schools tested outside the programme are not counted in the EPA figure.

Recommended charts

• The 2016 to 2017 national picture. Data: tested, not tested, did not know. Source: GAO-18-382. Insight: the largest single group is not the tested group. Citation-worthy as the only national measurement.
• Elevated results among districts that tested. Data: 37 percent found elevated lead. Source: GAO-18-382. Insight: testing frequently finds something.
• EPA programme activity since 2019. Data: schools and child care facilities tested and remediated. Source: EPA. Insight: remediation completion trails testing substantially.
• Timeline of the evidence. Data: 2016-17 survey, 2018 publication, 2018 to 2026 programme funding, no further survey. Insight: the funding continued and the measurement did not.

How this report was built

Methodology

Source selection. The national survey figures come from the Government Accountability Office report that produced them. Programme figures come from EPA. No advocacy-group estimate is used as a primary figure.

Inclusion rules. Every statistic carries the year or period it describes. Statistics that could not be attached to a stated period were excluded.

Handling the age of the data. This page treats the age of the evidence as a finding rather than as a caveat to be minimised. The GAO figures are presented with their school year attached in every instance, including in the summary bullets and FAQ.

What this page does not do. It does not convert EPA programme participation counts into national testing rates, and it does not present a current 50-state table of school testing requirements, because neither could be produced from verified sources without estimation.

Last updated. 18 September 2026.

Data limitations

• The national survey figures describe school year 2016 to 2017 and were published in 2018. They are not current measurements.
• GAO survey data is self-reported by school districts.
• EPA programme figures count participation in a voluntary grant programme. They do not measure national testing prevalence and cannot be converted into a national rate.
• State testing requirements have changed since the 2017 count of at least 8 states and this page does not present a current state-by-state table.
• Elevated lead findings depend on the action level and sampling protocol used, which have varied between state programmes and over time. Comparisons of elevated-result rates between programmes are not necessarily like for like.
• Most schools are not public water systems, so school building results are generally outside the supplying utility’s routine compliance sampling.
• This page reports federal data. It is not guidance on testing, remediation or health, and schools should work from EPA’s 3Ts materials and their state primacy agency.

Source quality ranking

Tier 1. US Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-382, 2018. US Environmental Protection Agency, 3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water. US Environmental Protection Agency, WIIN Grant programme reporting. Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, Section 2107.

Tier 2. None used as a primary figure.

Tier 3. None used as a primary figure.

Excluded. Advocacy-organisation estimates of untested schools, unsourced roundups, and any figure that could not be attached to a named source and a stated period.

Figures worth quoting

• 43 percent of US school districts tested their drinking water for lead in school year 2016 to 2017, the last time anyone measured nationally.
• Among districts that tested, 37 percent found elevated lead.
• About one in six districts did not know whether their water had ever been tested.
• EPA has put more than 200 million dollars into school and child care lead testing since 2018 without a national survey being repeated.
• Nearly 13,000 schools have been tested through EPA’s voluntary programme since 2019, and more than 2,500 have completed remediation.

Briefing note

The last national measurement of lead testing in United States school drinking water describes school year 2016 to 2017. In that survey, published by the Government Accountability Office in 2018 as GAO-18-382, 43 percent of school districts reported testing for lead, serving approximately 35 million students. Among districts that tested, 37 percent found elevated lead levels. A further 41 percent of districts, serving approximately 12 million students, had not tested in the prior 12 months, and 16 percent did not know whether they had tested. Every district that found elevated lead reported taking action. No comparable national survey has been published since. Federal activity has continued through EPA’s voluntary grant programme under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, which EPA reports has helped nearly 13,000 schools and more than 20,000 child care facilities test their water since 2019, with more than 2,500 schools completing remediation. EPA states it has provided more than 200 million dollars since 2018.

How reporters could frame this

1. Nobody has measured lead testing in American schools for nearly a decade
2. The last national survey found 37 percent of tested school districts had elevated lead
3. One in six school districts did not know if their water had been tested
4. 200 million dollars has gone into school lead testing since the last national count
5. Why most US schools are not required to test their water for lead

Related questions

How many US schools test their drinking water for lead? In school year 2016 to 2017, 43 percent of school districts reported testing, according to GAO-18-382. No comparable national survey has been published since, so there is no verified current figure.

How many schools find lead when they test? Among districts that tested in school year 2016 to 2017, 37 percent found elevated levels. Source: GAO-18-382.

Are US schools required to test for lead in drinking water? There is no general federal requirement. EPA’s programme is voluntary and grant-funded. As of 2017 the GAO identified at least 8 states that required testing.

Why are schools not covered by the Safe Drinking Water Act rules directly? Most schools are not public water systems. They are customers of a utility, and the utility samples across its service area rather than at every building. Lead from a school’s own internal plumbing therefore sits outside that routine compliance sampling.

What is the EPA 3Ts programme? 3Ts stands for Training, Testing and Taking Action. It is EPA’s framework for voluntary lead reduction programmes in schools and child care facilities.

How much federal money has gone into school lead testing? EPA states more than 200 million dollars since 2018, including 26 million dollars announced in June 2025.

How many schools has the EPA programme reached? Nearly 13,000 schools and more than 20,000 child care facilities have had water tested through the programme since 2019, according to EPA.

How many have actually fixed the problem? More than 2,500 schools and more than 1,300 child care facilities completed remediation since 2019, according to EPA. Remediation completions trail testing counts substantially.

What did schools do when they found lead? Districts reported replacing water fountains, installing filters or new fixtures, and providing bottled water. All districts finding elevated lead reported taking some action. Source: GAO-18-382.

Why does this page not give a current national percentage? Because producing one would require dividing EPA voluntary programme counts by an unrelated national school total, which would imply a precision neither source supports. The honest answer is that the national figure has not been re-measured.

Last reviewed: 2026-09-18.