Voluntary School and Childcare Lead Testing and Reduction Tribal Grant Program

Section 1464(d) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as amended by section 2107 of the 2016 Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN), section 2006 of the 2018 America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA), and by section 50110 of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Job Act (IIJA), authorizes EPA to award grants to states, territories, and Tribal Consortia to provide assistance for lead testing and remediation in drinking water at schools and child care facilities.

Under the Tribal component of this program, known as the Voluntary School and Childcare Lead Testing and Reduction Tribal Grant Program, Tribal consortia, on behalf of Tribes, are eligible applicants for funding to assist with lead testing and remediation in Tribal schools and childcare programs. Tribal consortia that receive grant funds shall use the funds in accordance with EPA’s 3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water guidance or other applicable regulations that are not less stringent than the 3Ts guidance.

Basic information about the Voluntary School and Childcare Lead Testing and Reduction Tribal Grant Program is below. For information about the funding that is available to states and territories, please see the state Lead Testing in School and Child Care Program Drinking Water Grant Program website.

In this section:

Background
Eligible Applicants & Beneficiaries
Eligible Activities & Program Implementation
How to Apply
Current Participating Tribal Consortia
Tribal Consultation
Additional Resources and Contacts

Background

The Lead Testing in Schools program was established as a non-competitive program, designed to assist Tribal schools and childcare facilities with lead testing in school and child care facilities in collaboration with Tribal consortia. In November 2021, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) amended Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) §1464(d) and expanded eligible grant work and/or activities to include compliance monitoring and lead reduction/remediation in addition to testing.

The grant program uses the EPA’s 3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water guidance to implement lead testing programs and develop monitoring, maintenance and/or sampling plans that protect children from lead exposure now and in the future. Participation in the program requires use of the EPA’s 3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water guidance to implement the principal objective of providing assistance to schools and child care programs to test for lead in drinking water, utilizing the EPA's 3Ts for Tribal Schools: Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools and Child Care Facilities guidance or applicable regulations regarding reducing lead in drinking water in schools and child care programs that are not less stringent.

Eligible Applicants and Beneficiaries

Tribal consortia are eligible to apply for funding under the Voluntary School and Childcare Lead Testing and Reduction Tribal Grant Program. SDWA Section §1464(d), as amended by section 50110 of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Job Act (IIJA), authorizes EPA to award grants to:

‘‘(ii) tribal consortia to assist tribal education agencies (as defined in section 3 of the National Environmental Education Act (20 U.S.C. 5502)), public water systems that serve schools and child care programs under the jurisdiction of those tribal education agencies, and qualified nonprofit organizations in voluntary testing or compliance monitoring for and remediation of lead contamination in drinking water at schools and child care programs under the jurisdiction of those tribal education agencies.”

Beneficiaries of the program must be members of a federally-recognized Tribe. Any school or child care, public or private, that serves federally recognized Tribal populations, is eligible. This includes facilities that are not physically located on Tribal lands.

Please note that federally-owned schools and childcare facilities are not eligible to receive support through this program. This includes schools administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which are ineligible for assistance under this grant program.

Eligible Activities and Program Implementation

The following document provides details on implementation of the Voluntary School and Childcare Lead Testing and Reduction Tribal Grant Program, including eligible uses of funding.

Implementation Document (pdf) (494.75 KB)

In addition to the eligible activities included in the Implementation Document above, participating Tribal consortia may also use funds to implement lead remediation activities. Examples of eligible remediation activities can be found in Appendix C. of the Voluntary School and Child Care Lead Testing & Reduction Grant Program Implementation Document for States and Territories (page 22).

How to Apply

On May 16, 2024, EPA announced the availability of $7,241,000 in funding to Tribal consortia through the Voluntary School and Childcare Lead Testing and Reduction Tribal Grant Program.

EPA is accepting Letters of Intent to Participate (LOIP) from Tribal Consortia until June 10, 2024. Please see the letter below for additional information on how Tribal consortia can submit Letters of Intent to Participate (LOIP) to the EPA.

Request for Letters of Intent to Participate in the Tribal Lead Testing in Schools Program (pdf) (263.51 KB)

Current Participating Tribal Consortia

In July, 2021, EPA awarded $4.4M in funding to participating Tribal consortia. The seven Tribal consortia that are currently participating in the grant program are as follows:

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council
Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona
Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan
Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board
Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council
United South and Eastern Tribes

Tribal Consultation

An initial Tribal consultation on this grant program was conducted September 21, 2018 to October 22, 2018. A second Tribal consultation was conducted November 18, 2019 to December 20, 2019.

Additional Resources

Basic Factsheet

Letter to Tribal Consortia (2020)

Implementation Document

Contact Information

Please contact Gabriella Neusner (neusner.gabriella@epa.gov) with any questions about this program