Proponent Testimony on HB 360 — Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund (January 22, 2020)

Summary

Proponent testimony of the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund on HB 360, Water Bottle Filling Stations in Schools, presented to the House Commerce & Labor Committee on January 22, 2020 by Melanie Houston, its Drinking Water Director. She states that HB 360 would provide water bottle filling stations and drinking water fountains in new school facilities and adds dispensing of filtered, clean drinking water to their definition. The testimony recommends that the legislation or accompanying rules further define filtered, clean drinking water and require filters certified for lead reduction, meeting the NSF 53 standard. It says filters cost around $100 each, according to the Ecology Center, and states that lead service lines across the state number 650,000.

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         Proponent Testimony of Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund
                 HB 360 - Water Bottle Filling Stations in Schools
              Presented to the House Commerce & Labor Committee
                                January 22, 2020

Chair Manning, Vice Chair Dean, Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan, and Members of the
House Commerce and Labor Committee, thank for the opportunity to testify before this
committee today on HB 360. My name is Melanie Houston, and I serve as the Drinking
Water Director for the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund (OECAF).

One of the most basic human needs is water. All of Ohio’s children deserve access to
clean, safe and affordable drinking water, yet we know we are not meeting this basic
metric. Children in rural areas receive their drinking water from well-water or spring
water (as I did growing up) which may or may not be tested for quality at all or
often-enough. Children in urban areas are at risk of exposure to lead leaching from the
650,000 lead service lines still in place across the state. Voluntary testing by many
schools has demonstrated the presence of lead. Children in low-income, urban and
suburban households across the state are at risk of having water service cut off due to
the rising cost of water rates. And of course, there are many other emerging
contaminants such as PFAS, pharmaceuticals and micro-plastics which have been
found in our drinking water.

HB 360 will help provide children with safe, clean drinking water through the provision of
water bottle filling stations and drinking water fountains in new school facilities.
Importantly, HB 360 adds to the definition of drinking water fountains and water bottle
filling stations the dispensing of “ “filtered, clean drinking water.”

The intent of this legislation is very clear - to provide ample access to drinking water in
schools and to make certain that this water is as safe and clean as possible.

Given that there are no enforceable federal or state mandates for testing drinking water
in schools or remediating lead hazards, the OEC Action Fund recommends that the
legislation or accompanying rules for this legislation 1. further define what constitutes
filtered, clean drinking water and 2. Require filters be certified for lead reduction,
particulate reduction and to reduce aesthetic impurities (such as chlorine and odors).
These devices must have a filter that meets the NSF 53 standard for lead reduction.
In our sister-state of Michigan, where they have focused on a “filter first approach” to
lead reduction, drinking water stations with filters have been installed in public schools
in Detroit, Flint, Royal Oak, Ann Arbor and Dearborn schools.

After installation, schools also will need a budget for maintenance costs, including
replacement filters. According to the Ecology Center based out of Detroit, Michigan,
filters cost around $100 each and need to be replaced every year or as soon as the
3,000-gallon capacity is reached. Successfully implementing filtered water stations in a
school requires ongoing support and maintenance, appropriate signage, culture and
habit modification, and funding.

HB 360 is an important step toward ensuring clean, safe water in public schools. It will
also have the added benefit of steering students toward better health and away from
bottled water in single-use packaging. Bottled water use contributes to the problem of
plastics in our rivers, lakes, and oceans. ​More than 22 million pounds of plastic pollution
end up in the Great Lakes every year, according to the Rochester Institute of
Technology. ​According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
approximately 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every year. That’s the
weight of nearly 90 aircraft carriers.

Water is the basic building block for a healthy life. Every child should have access to
clean, safe and affordable drinking water. HB360 is an important step toward a future
where all of Ohio’s children have access to clean, safe and affordable drinking water.

Thank you, and I would be happy to answer questions at this time.


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