Dear School Representative,

If your school collected lead samples from drinking water outlets under Maryland law* between July 2, 2022, and July 1, 2023, the test results and required documentation should be submitted to Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) by September 15, 2023**, to be included in the annual Report to the Governor and the Maryland General Assembly (NOTE:  If your school did not collect samples during this specific time period, this reporting deadline does not apply to your school).

*The law includes: Testing for Lead in Drinking Water - Public and Nonpublic Schools (Chapter 386 (House Bill 270), Acts of 2017) and School Buildings - Drinking Water Outlets - Elevated Level of Lead (Safe School Drinking Water Act) (Chapter 237 (House Bill 636), Acts of 2021).

**This is the deadline for submission of test results and required documentation (NOT for conducting testing).  Per Maryland regulations, unless the school has an approved waiver, testing must be conducted during the regular school year and while school is in session at a three year frequency.  If your school was scheduled to conduct lead testing by July 1, 2023, but the testing was not conducted, your school must wait until it is back in session before conducting the testing.  Details on testing requirements can be found in Testing Requirements and Related Documents.

Please be sure to include all of the following required documentation in order to complete the submission:

• Laboratory Results Reporting Form (EDD) - must be in MS Excel (.xls or .xlsx) format

• Lead Water Sample Collection Form

• Official Laboratory Analysis Report signed by the Laboratory Director -- (see example here) -- Please also include Laboratory Chain of Custody (COC) form

• School Floor Plan (with locations of outlets identified with unique Outlet IDs) -- (see example here)

• Lead Water Sample Summary Certification Form (only required for each complete round of standard/routine testing)

The forms may be accessed by clicking on the links above and can also be found on MDE's web page. Since State forms are periodically updated, clicking on the above links and/or locating the forms on MDE's web page will ensure that schools are using the most recent version of these forms. For additional information and requirements related to these forms, please refer to the “Reporting Documents” section on pages 2 and 3 of Testing Requirements and Related Documents.

The submission should be sent to:

testresults.leadschoolwater@maryland.gov

For reporting to local agencies and other State agencies, please refer to Reporting of Lead Sampling Results, which can also be found on MDE's web page.

We appreciate your efforts to meet the requirements of Maryland law and regulations. Please contact the Water Supply Program’s Lead in Drinking Water Division via email at reporting.leadschoolwater@maryland.gov with any questions or concerns.

***PLEASE NOTE:*** This email is being sent to ALL schools subject to lead testing in drinking water under Maryland law, not just those schools scheduled to conduct lead testing by July 1, 2023.  If your school did NOT collect any lead samples between July 2, 2022, and July 1, 2023, the submission deadline does NOT apply to your school, and you may disregard this email.

Sincerely,

Testing for Lead in Drinking Water in Public and Nonpublic Schools

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