Parents and Guardians,

Hillsborough County Public Schools has been at the forefront of proactively testing drinking water in our schools since March 2017, a practice not widely adopted by most school districts across the state or nation. Although not required by law, our district voluntarily initiated this program to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff.

New regulations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions, now mandate that city and county government entities conduct water testing for any school districts that voluntarily participate in this process.

Our notification process for families will remain unchanged. Parents and guardians can access individual school results and learn more about our water testing protocol at www.hillsboroughschools.org/watertesting.

Under our district’s voluntary testing program, any water fixture with lead concentrations exceeding 10 parts per billion (ppb), which is below the EPA’s recommended 15ppb, is immediately taken out of service. We then implement mitigation measures, which may include replacing the fixture, supply lines, valves, and/or piping. The fixture is retested to ensure lead levels are below the 10ppb threshold before being put back into service.

Our district adheres to the EPA’s guidelines for safe drinking water, and from the outset, nearly all tested fixtures have met these safety standards.

Thank you for your continued support as we strive to enhance the health and safety of our campuses.