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Tag: Healthy Schools

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Beatty & Shimshack, 2011

School buses contribute disproportionately to ambient air quality, pollute near schools and residential areas, and their emissions collect within passenger cabins. This paper examines the impact of school bus emissions reductions programs on health outcomes. A key contribution relative to the broader literature is that we examine localized pollution reduction programs at a fine level of aggregation. We find that school bus retrofits induced reductions in bronchitis, asthma, and pneumonia incidence for atrisk populations. Back of the envelope calculations suggest conservative benefit-cost ratios between 7:1 and16:1.

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Environmental Law Institute

According to the U.S. EPA, indoor radon exposure results in an estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths in the United States each year. That makes indoor radon the second leading cause of lung cancer, the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, and the seventh leading cause of cancer mortality overall.

Radon is a colorless, odorless gas that is produced from the decay of radium released from uranium ore that is present in most rock and soils. When radon enters a building through cracks or other openings in the foundation or slab, it becomes concentrated indoors. Inhaling radon over a period of years increases cancer risk; the higher the radon levels, the greater the risk.

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Fichman, 2015

More than 760,000 trucks pass through El Paso’s two entry points from Mexico each year; it is the highest-ranked city for carbon monoxide levels in Texas and rates eighth in the nation for particulate pollution. Traces of air pollution can be found in the school classroom, affecting minority students disproportionately.

Researchers from the University of Texas show that the overall GPA of fourth- and fifth-graders in public schools dropped 0.02–0.04 points for every one standard deviation increase in greater exposure to toxic substances in the air. Despite excessive truck traffic, non-road sources were shown to have the greatest effect, including pollution from an international airport, a bi-national freight station, and a military base.

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Building Green, 2013

As awareness about air quality in schools has reached unprecedented levels in the U.S., one major indoor pollutant remains widely unaddressed: radon.

It might not be the most trendy topic for building interiors, but soil chemistry hasn’t changed since scientists first discovered high radon concentrations in buildings in the 1980s—nor has the fact that radon is considered the second leading cause of lung cancer deaths in the U.S. (tobacco smoke is number one).

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World Health Organization, 2009.

Diseases related to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene are a huge burden in developing countries. It is estimated that 88% of diarrhoeal disease is caused by unsafe water supply, and inadequate sanitation and hygiene (WHO, 2004c). Many schools serve communities that have a high prevalence of diseases related to inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene, and where child malnutrition and other underlying health problems are common.
Schools, particularly those in rural areas, often completely lack drinking-water and sanitation and handwashing facilities; alternatively, where such facilities do exist they are often inadequate in both quality and quantity. Schools with poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, and intense levels of person-to-person contact, are high-risk environments for children and staff, and exacerbate children’s particular susceptibility to environmental health hazards.
Children’s ability to learn may be affected by inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene conditions in several ways. These include helminth infections (which affect hundreds of millions of school-age children), long-term exposure to chemical contaminants in water (e.g. lead and arsenic), diarrhoeal diseases and malaria infections, all of which force many schoolchildren to be absent from school. Poor environmental conditions in the classroom can also make both teaching and learning very difficult.

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EPA, 2013.

This guide is intended for use by school officials and child care providers responsible for the maintenance and/or safety of school and child care facilities including the drinking water. The purpose of this guide is to describe the importance of implementing best management practices for drinking water in schools and child care facilities and how a school or child care facility would go about implementing these practices. This guide is specifically designed for schools and child care facilities that have their own well and, therefore, are classified as a public water system. This guide is not a regulation itself, nor does it change or substitute for those provisions and regulations. Thus, it does not impose legally binding requirements on EPA, states, public water systems, schools or child care facilities. This guide does not confer legal rights or impose legal obligations upon any member of the public. While EPA has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information in this guide the obligations of the regulated community are determined by statutes, regulations or other legally binding requirements. In the event of a conflict between the information in this guide and any statute or regulation, this document would not be controlling.

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Ithaca Journal, 2016.

Ithaca pediatrician Marguerite Uphoff remembers a time when leaded gasoline burned inside cars, lead-based paint covered bedroom walls, and school districts installed pipes with lead solder to deliver drinking water for children.

“There’s no question that lead is a neurotoxin, and even at low blood-lead levels, it has the potential to affect development, behavior and learning ability,” she said.

In 2016, motors run on unleaded gas, and the lead-based paint can be easily detected and removed. Lead pipes and lead solder, however, are more expensive to replace and often harder to find. While some regulations exist to protect people from lead in drinking water, recent tests at local schools reveal a gap in the rules designed to protect children.

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California Department of Education.

Chapter 558 of the Statutes of 2010 (Senate Bill 1413, Leno) establishes California Education Code (EC) Section 38086, which requires school districts to provide access to free, fresh drinking water during meal times.

Making Free, Fresh Drinking Water Available to Students During Meal Times
Complying with California Senate Bill 1413 (Leno)

Chapter 558 of the Statutes of 2010 (Senate Bill [SB] 1413, Leno) establishes California Education Code (EC) Section 38086, which requires school districts to provide access to free, fresh drinking water during meal times in school food service areas by July 1, 2011, unless the governing board of a school district adopts a resolution stating it is unable to comply with this requirement due to fiscal constraints or health and safety concerns.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2014.
Drinking water can contribute to good health, and schools are in a unique position to promote healthy, dietary behaviors, including drinking water. More than 95% of children and adolescents are enrolled in schools, and students typically spend at least 6 hours at school each day.
Ensuring that students have access to safe, free drinking water throughout the school environment gives them a healthy alternative to sugar-sweetened beverages before, during, and after school. Access to safe, free drinking water helps to increase students’ overall water consumption, maintain hydration, and reduce energy intake, if substituted for sugar-sweetened beverages.

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This publication is meant to be an aid to the staff of the CDPH Drinking Water Program and cannot be relied upon by the regulated community as the State of California‘s representation of the law. The published codes are the only official representation of the law. Refer to the published codes in this case, 17 CCR and 22 CCR whenever specific citations are required. Statutes related to CDPH‘s drinking water related activities are in the Health & Safety Code, the Water Code, and other codes.
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