PFAS in School Drinking Water: What Parents Need to Know

Children spend roughly 1,000 hours per year at school. For most of those hours, the water they drink comes from school fountains and cafeteria taps — connected to the same public water systems that EPA’s UCMR 5 testing found contain PFAS.

The problem is straightforward: if your home ZIP code shows PFAS contamination, your child’s school almost certainly uses the same water supply. And children are more vulnerable to PFAS exposure than adults.

Why Children Are More at Risk

Children aren’t just small adults when it comes to PFAS exposure:

• Higher water intake per body weight — A 50-pound child drinking the same amount of water as a 150-pound adult gets three times the dose relative to body weight
• Developing immune systems — PFAS has been shown to reduce vaccine antibody response in children, a finding replicated across multiple studies in the Faroe Islands, Germany, and the US
• Longer exposure timeline — A child exposed today will carry those PFAS for decades. PFOA has a half-life of 3–5 years in the human body, meaning it takes 15–25 years to fully clear a single exposure
• Critical developmental windows — Exposure during childhood and adolescence can affect thyroid function, bone development, and puberty timing

A 2024 study published in Environmental Health Perspectives found that children in communities with PFAS-contaminated water had measurably lower antibody responses to routine childhood vaccines, including diphtheria and tetanus.

How to Check Your Child’s School Water

Schools on public water systems are covered by the same EPA data that powers CheckPFAS:

Step 1: Identify the Water System

Most schools are served by the municipal water system for their address. Enter the school’s ZIP code on CheckPFAS to see PFAS testing results for the water system serving that area.

Step 2: Ask the School District

Contact your school district’s facilities department and ask:

• Has the district tested drinking water at school buildings for PFAS?
• What water system serves each school?
• Are any filtration systems installed on drinking fountains or cafeteria taps?
• Is the district planning remediation if PFAS was detected?

Step 3: Check State Records

Many states maintain their own PFAS testing databases that may include school-specific testing. States with active school water testing programs include Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, California, and Connecticut.

What School Districts Are Doing

Across the country, school districts are responding to PFAS contamination with varying urgency:

Proactive districts are:

• Installing point-of-use reverse osmosis or activated carbon filters on all drinking fountains and kitchen taps
• Switching to bottled water or filtered water filling stations while permanent solutions are implemented
• Testing independently even when not required by state law

Lagging districts may:

• Rely solely on utility-level compliance without building-level testing
• Delay action until state mandates require it
• Lack funding for filtration infrastructure

The variation is enormous. Some districts have spent millions retrofitting every school; others have done nothing beyond what the utility provides.

The Funding Challenge

Water filtration isn’t cheap, especially at scale:

• A point-of-use filter on a single drinking fountain costs $200–$800 plus annual filter replacement
• A school with 20 water access points faces $4,000–$16,000 in upfront costs plus $2,000–$5,000 annually in maintenance
• District-wide implementation for a mid-sized district with 30 schools can run $200,000–$500,000

Federal funding is available through several channels:

• EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) provides low-interest loans for water infrastructure
• The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $9 billion specifically for PFAS remediation in drinking water
• State revolving funds can finance school water treatment projects
• Some states have dedicated grant programs for school water quality

What You Can Do as a Parent

If you’re concerned about PFAS in your child’s school water:

Immediate Actions

1. Check the school’s ZIP code on CheckPFAS — this gives you baseline data on the water system serving the school
2. Send a reusable bottle with filtered water — If your home water is filtered, this is the simplest immediate protection
3. Ask the school nurse or principal what they know about the school’s water quality and whether any testing has been done

Advocacy Actions

1. Attend a school board meeting — Raise the issue publicly. Many districts haven’t acted simply because no one has asked.
2. Request testing — Ask the district to conduct independent PFAS testing at the building level, not just rely on utility data. Faucets and fountains with lead soldering or old plumbing can have different contamination profiles.
3. Connect with other parents — Collective advocacy is more effective. Parent groups in states like Michigan and New Jersey have successfully pushed districts to install filtration.
4. Contact your state representative — State-level funding for school water filtration has bipartisan support in most legislatures.

Home Protection

Even if your school situation is uncertain, you can control your home water:

• A certified reverse osmosis system under your kitchen sink removes 90–99.9% of all PFAS compounds
• Pitcher filters certified for PFAS (like the Clearly Filtered pitcher) offer a lower-cost option for drinking water
• Filter the water you use for cooking, formula preparation, and drinking — these are the primary ingestion routes

Schools on Private Wells: A Hidden Risk

Roughly 8% of US schools are served by their own private wells rather than public water systems. These schools face unique challenges:

• No mandatory PFAS testing — Private wells are not covered by EPA’s MCL regulations or UCMR 5 testing
• Unknown contamination status — Without testing, there’s no way to know PFAS levels
• No utility-level treatment — There’s no water utility responsible for treating the water before it reaches the tap
• Rural schools near agricultural land may be exposed to PFAS from biosolid application (sewage sludge used as fertilizer)

If your child’s school uses a private well, testing is especially important. PFAS testing kits for private wells cost $200–$400 through certified labs like Eurofins or SimpleLab.

The Bigger Picture

School water quality is ultimately a function of community water quality. The same PFAS in school fountains is in home taps, restaurant kitchens, and hospital water. Advocating for school filtration is important, but the long-term solution is utility-level treatment that protects the entire community.

The good news: with enforceable EPA limits now in place, water utilities are legally required to bring PFAS levels into compliance. But treatment infrastructure takes time to build, and smaller systems have until 2027.

In the meantime, the best protection is knowledge. Check your ZIP code to understand your community’s PFAS levels, then take targeted action for your family and your child’s school.

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Sources: EPA UCMR 5 data, CDC/ATSDR PFAS exposure assessments, Grandjean et al. (2012) “Serum Vaccine Antibody Concentrations in Children Exposed to Perfluorinated Compounds” in JAMA, EPA School and Child Care Drinking Water Resources.