Nutrition Policy Institute policy advisor Christina Hecht presented virtually at the 2021 Child and Adult Care Food Program conference. Her talk on October 19 was titled “Testing: one, two and three! AB 2370 and you” on the California law–AB 2370–that requires licensed child care centers to test for lead at every tap used for drinking or cooking. Implementation of the law was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hecht's talk informed attendees on how to prepare for future implementation of AB 2370 and also provided a question and answer session for child care providers to share their experiences. Hecht leads the National Drinking Water Alliance, which is coordinated by NPI.
- Author: Danielle L. Lee
- Contributor: Christina A Hecht
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
The Lead and Copper Rule (LCR)–a U.S. federal regulation under the administration of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)–limits the concentration of lead and copper allowed in utility-provided tap water. The LCR provides requirements for various actions to monitor and reduce lead and copper content of tap water and to inform the public. The EPA recently undertook the first revision of the LCR in 30 years with the Trump administration publishing final revisions on January 15, 2021. However, on January 20, 2021, the Biden administration issued a Regulatory Freeze Pending Review memorandum to ensure any new or pending rules be reviewed by the new presidential appointees or designees and be re-opened for public comment. The EPA posted an extension of the effective date of the revised LCR on April 14 to enable the agency to seek further public input, particularly from communities most at-risk of exposure to lead in drinking water. Nutrition Policy Institute's (NPI) Christina Hecht and Angie Cradock of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health submitted one of the over 20,000 public comments providing recommendations for the final revision of the LCR. Hecht and Cradock's comment focused on school drinking water safety, providing recommendations based on their findings from a comprehensive study of states' school drinking water lead testing initiatives and lead test results. Their recommendations included: testing all taps used for human consumption in school and childcare facilities, rather than the subset–5 taps in schools, 2 in child care–required by the earlier proposed revision; a faster timeline for initial testing of all taps; and a lower action level for lead in tap water.
- Author: Danielle L. Lee
- Contributor: Christina A Hecht
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
Since the Flint Water Crisis—the 2014 watershed moment for public health and drinking water safety in Flint, Michigan—public concern over drinking water safety, especially for children, has only grown. The National Drinking Water Alliance (NDWA) maintains an interactive map that provides a database of news stories on tap water exceedances of regulated contaminants since 2015. A recent update adds over 235 new map points with links to documenting news articles, with nearly half of the incidents emerging since 2019. The map also includes information on state policies and programs to test for lead in school drinking water. Almost one-third of US states have enacted legislation providing policy to test for lead in drinking water in schools and, in some cases, in child care centers. Policies for mandatory testing have recently passed in Oregon and Vermont. New legislative proposals are underway in Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, and Connecticut. Voluntary programs are now present in every state, funded by nationwide federal grants supporting testing in child care facilities and schools. More information on each state's actions can be found on the interactive map, which was updated by Nutrition Policy Institute intern, Laurel Denyer, a recent University of California, Davis graduate. The NDWA is coordinated by Christina Hecht of the Nutrition Policy Institute. For more information, and to propose additions to the map, please contact the NDWA at DWAalliance@ucanr.edu.
Drinking water is the healthy alternative to the sugary drinks that are a risk factor for many diet-related chronic diseases and tooth decay, and plain drinking water is also more environmentally friendly than packaged sugary drinks. Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) researcher Christina Hecht, who coordinates the National Drinking Water Alliance, received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Eating Research program to develop a 'photo-evidence' tool to document the condition of drinking water access in schools and other community locations. This work was conducted in collaboration with the University of Washington School of Public Health and Stanford Medicine Department of Pediatrics. The tool, Assessing the Quality of Water Access (AQWA), is designed for use by community or citizen scientists and allows a documentary and quantitative survey of the elements that should be present to maximize water consumption. The AQWA toolkit is available online. Critical elements in drinking water access, dubbed ‘Effective Access to Drinking Water' were identified by researchers during the development of the AQWA tool. These include water dispenser cleanliness, condition and accessibility, adequate water flow, presence of cups, and educational or promotional messaging about drinking water and healthy hydration. A new research brief, entitled ‘Effective Access to Drinking Water in Schools: What is it and why does it matter?' provides a summary of the research on the importance of these elements as well as the evidence base on school drinking water access around the US. The research brief is available online. Contact Christina Hecht, at ceahecht@ucanr.edu, if your group might undertake a project using AQWA.
The Notah Begay III (NB3) Foundation has released a new interactive resource for Indigenous communities and all communities interested in increasing consumption of drinking water in place of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB). The resource, Increase Healthy Beverage Consumption and Reduce Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs): A Community Roadmap, displays easy-to-understand concepts, developed from high-level research. The resources guides users through five steps, each offering specific information, links and resources. It was created in partnership with the NB3 Foundation, the National Tribal Water Center, and the Nutrition Policy Institute's (NPI) Christina Hecht and Laura Vollmer, who coordinate NPI's National Drinking Water Alliance.