Water fountains in some L.A. schools tested up to 500 times the government level for lead, and high lead levels have been found in our capitol’s water system, but covered up with ‘science fraud‘.

In a nation that’s getting ready to distribute an economic stimulus package of astronomic size, where is the money to stop poisoning our kids?

[social_buttons]The author of the exposé of the D.C. lead incident, professor Marc Edwards, an environmental engineer, had this to say: “There’s no question that lead in schools is a big national issue —especially in some of the older urban cities that have this old plumbing infrastructure.”

Here’s another doozy of a quote from Edwards:

“It’s the big urban cities that are most likely to have issues with lead coming out some taps. Schools seem to be about the worst case for lead in water.”

Because schools remain empty for long periods, water sits in lead plumbing and fixtures for extended periods, leaching elevated levels of lead into the water supply. The first person to open the tap or fountain is then exposed to levels of lead that greatly exceed even the most lax standards for lead in drinking water.

Schools and municipalities whose domestic water systems contain high levels of lead should be the recipients of a good chunk of the economic stimulus package, but somehow, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Our government is too busy bailing out mega-corporations that are ‘too big to fail’, and posturing about tax credits, to address the health of our smallest citizens, the ones who are going to reap the economic harvest that the fed is sowing.

So why aren’t we standing up and screaming about this to the EPA, the school systems, the state and local health departments?

Are we sheep?

Does the future of this nation not depend on the health of its children?

Image: Darwin Bell at Flickr under Creative Commons