Get the Lead Out
- Check out our New Report: Get the Lead Out – Why New York State’s efforts to get lead out of school drinking water are still inadequate.
- Check out our maps of lead testing in schools.
Lead is a persistent and bio-accumulative toxic metal that is a threat to public health. When consumed, even low levels of lead can have a harmful impact on almost every system and organ in the human body. Lead contamination is particularly harmful to children This highly toxic substance is a particular threat to children whose bodies absorb more lead than adults. Even low levels of lead exposure in children have been linked to, among other consequences: damage of the nervous system; lowered IQ; learning disabilities; behavior problems; slowed growth; hearing problems; anemia; and in extreme cases ingestion of lead by young children has been linked to seizures, coma and death.
New York’s schools have a responsibility to keep children safe while learning, including by providing them with safe drinking water. Yet, water supplies in schools across New York State too often test positive for lead contamination, despite several attempts by policymakers in recent years to address the issue. New York should shift to requiring filters on all drinking water taps in schools and adopt a 1 part per billion (ppb) standard for lead in school drinking water.
Percentage of Schools With at Least One Outlet Testing Above 5 ppb, by County
Percentage of Water Outlets Testing Above 5 ppb, by County
Percentage of Schools With at Least One Outlet Testing Above 5 ppb, by Assembly District
Percentage of Schools With at Least One Outlet Testing Above 5 ppb, by Senate District
Methodology
This analysis is based on lead testing results for drinking water at public schools and BOCES facilities as reported to the New York State Department of Health. Data is pulled automatically on a recurring schedule from two NYS Department of Health datasets: the 2023–2025 compliance period (https://health.data.ny.gov/Health/Lead-Testing-in-School-Drinking-Water-Sampling-and/rygk-rhum/about_data) and the 2026–2028 compliance period (https://health.data.ny.gov/Health/Lead-Testing-in-School-Drinking-Water-Sampling-Inf/g9uy-32jy/about_data).
The New York State Department of Health reports that these data are "self-reported by the schools into a NYS Department of Health electronic survey and transferred to Health Data NY as is without edits or redaction. Schools update their information on an ongoing basis as their water sampling is performed, laboratory test results are received, and remediation is conducted (as needed)."
For both compliance periods, the testing results in the New York State Department of Health database are intended to reflect the most recent testing results, including tests that were taken after remediation of previous positive test results took place. As a result, a school with an outlet that tested above the state's 5 parts per billion (ppb) threshold in an initial test, but below the threshold in a subsequent, post-remediation test, would only be required to report the second result.
Most New York State schools have not yet begun reporting testing results for the 2026–2028 compliance period. For those that have reported complete testing results in the current compliance period, this analysis reflects those results (not those from the earlier 2023–2025 compliance period). For schools that have not yet reported testing results in the current compliance period, or for those that indicated that their testing thus far is incomplete, the earlier 2023–2025 compliance period results are used.
School names, locations, and descriptions are based on the 2023–2025 reporting where available. Testing results for the 2023–2025 and 2026–2028 compliance periods were joined based on each school's Basic Education Data System (BEDS) identification code.
The percentage of outlets testing above 5 ppb is based on the share of all outlets for which testing results were reported to New York State, not the number of outlets reported by the schools as requiring testing.
County totals are based on the county field as reported in the NYS Department of Health source data. This is distinct from the georeferenced school locations used for legislative district boundary matching.
School locations were determined using a combination of coordinates provided by the NYS Department of Health, NYC Open Data School Point Locations, SEDREF facility records, and the Google Geocoding API. Where multiple sources provided coordinates for the same school, the most reliable source was selected based on proximity verification and source quality. State legislative district assignments (Assembly and Senate) were determined by matching each school's location to district boundary polygons published by the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment (LATFOR).
Corrections to Source Data:
- Two records from the 2023–2025 compliance period were excluded as duplicates.
- For 21 schools, school-reported figures did not match the detailed lead testing results posted on the schools' own websites. In each case, the discrepancy was reviewed and, where a clear error was identified (typos, data entry errors, duplicative reporting, or blank/"NA" entries where the correct value was determinable), the figures were adjusted to match the school's published data. Where the correct figure was unclear, the school's original reporting was retained.
Corrections to school data were provided by Frontier Group, with whom we collaborated on our companion report "Get the Lead Out NY" .