The poison in school water fountains
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2024
⏱️ 32 minutes
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Summary
When the state of New York became the first in the nation to require public schools to test their drinking water for lead in 2016, students learned that dozens of water fountains across the district were contaminated. Since then, a group of students and parents have banded together to fight for clean water in the schools.
Host Martine Powers speaks with investigative reporter Silvia Foster-Frau about her reporting in the East Ramapo Central School District and what people everywhere need to know about keeping kids’ drinking water safe.
Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff, with help from Bishop Sand. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Monica Campbell. Thanks to Rosalind Helderman.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Sylvia Foster Frau National Investigative Reporter at the Washington Post. |
| 0:07.0 | Okay, so this is your elementary. |
| 0:10.0 | Yes. What do you remember about going here? |
| 0:14.0 | Well, I was here kindergarten going all the way into third grade. |
| 0:18.0 | So this was when I was still new to learning English. |
| 0:22.0 | Spanish was my first language. |
| 0:24.3 | Earlier this summer, I took a reporting trip |
| 0:27.0 | to East Rampo Central School District, |
| 0:30.4 | which is about an hour north of New York City and I met with Kari Broncano. |
| 0:37.0 | This is the entrance but if you want to see the field it's a bit of walk so but this is where like we would play right here. |
| 0:44.0 | She's 23 and she attended public schools there at East Ramapo Central School District her entire life. |
| 0:51.0 | So these are classrooms, I think. |
| 0:55.2 | Then there's the Hempstead sign. |
| 0:56.7 | School and good standing. |
| 1:00.4 | Barely standing. She was driving us around her old elementary, middle, and high schools and wanted to show them to us because I had recently learned through my reporting something kind of surprising, which is that all of the schools that Carrie grew up going to, and in fact all of the schools in the district, had tested positive for lead in their tap water in 2016. |
| 1:28.0 | Katie, like how does it make you feel that in your elementary school there were taps above the legal maximum including one that was |
| 1:35.7 | over 2,000 parts per billion lead? I think it's I'm almost scared at how unsurprised I am, you know, our school district has been failing us for years and I think I've just gotten so used to having bad news after bad news. I do look back and I wonder |
| 1:56.9 | like how much farther could I have come if I was given the means to succeed more. |
| 2:05.0 | That makes sense. |
| 2:07.0 | When Carrie wonders if she could have succeeded more in life, it's because the effects of lead poisoning aren't always obvious. |
| 2:18.0 | They can show up slowly over time as behavioral learning or other health problems. |
| 2:23.0 | But what Carrie knows is that for many years as a kid, |
... |
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