Tests can detect lead in children’s facilities

Free testing is available to South Carolina schools and child care centers to detect the presence of lead in water.  Exposure to lead in water can cause certain health effects, especially in children.  According to DHEC, while the state regulates water systems to ensure quality standards are met, lead rarely is present in drinking water when it leaves a treatment plant and instead seeps into drinking water if a school, childcare center or home has old plumbing with lead-containing pipes, fixtures and solder because it wasn’t until the 1986 federal Safe Drinking Water Act that lead-containing pipes began to be restricted.