Editorial: Testing for lead in school drinking water

Sometimes, the most obvious things that need to be done become surprisingly difficult to accomplish.

That's sort of how we look at the legislation approved this week by both houses of the Illinois General Assembly that requires testing for lead contamination of drinking water in all state schools.

When the idea first was introduced, it seemed like a no brainer.

The safety of our children is, after all, paramount, and particularly given how vulnerable young people have been shown to be to lead toxicity, who could question the idea of testing?

Turns out, school administrators and municipal officials could. Many of them worried about the cost of the tests and railed at unfunded mandates.

We're as concerned about unfunded mandates as anybody, but when it comes to lead testing to protect our children, really? When the reality is that the cost of lead testing is comparatively minimal?

As we said in an editorial on the subject a month ago, "Any reasonable person understands that these water systems must be monitored. It's only common sense, and we owe that much to our children."

The measure, strongly promoted by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and ultimately approved by nearly unanimous consent in both the House and the Senate, requires schools to test by next year fixtures that would normally be sources of drinking water for students and the public - fountains, kitchen sinks and classroom faucets.

In an installment last year of "300 Miles from Flint: How Safe Is Our Water," Assistant Managing Editor Jake Griffin revealed that half of the schools in the suburbs had not tested for lead in the water supply despite horror stories in Flint, Michigan and at the Chicago Public Schools.

Griffin's investigation for the Daily Herald showed that of suburban schools that had tested, 15 percent reported some level of lead contamination.

In one school in Addison, the lead discovered at a drinking fountain was 212 times the federal safety standard.

In the end, both Gov. Bruce Rauner and Lisa Madigan expressed enthusiasm for the legislators' accomplishment.

We do, too.

And in particular, we thank and congratulate legislators from area suburbs who signed on to the bills - co-sponsors Linda Holmes of Aurora and Thomas Cullerton of Villa Park in the Senate and Linda Chapa LaVia of Aurora, Deborah Conway of Villa Park, Laura Fine of Glenview, Stephanie Kifowit of Aurora, Michelle Mussman of Schaumburg, Carol Sente of Vernon Hills and Kathleen Willis of Addison in the House.

Our kids thank you, too.