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WIIN Act Section 2107: Lead Testing in School and Child Care Program Drinking Water Tribal Grant Program

Authorized by the Water Infrastructure Improvements of the Nation (WIIN) Act, EPA is making funding available to support the Lead Testing in School and Child Care Program Drinking Water Tribal Grant Program. 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. 

Under this program, the tribal consortia, on behalf of tribes,are eligible applicants for funding to assist local education agencies to test for lead contamination in drinking water at schools and childcare programs. In November 2020, EPA announced that six tribal consortia will be participating in the grant program, which include:

  • Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona

  • United South and Eastern Tribes

  • Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council

  • Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council

  • Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board

  • Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan

These six entities will receive a total of $4.304 million in funding.

Eligible Beneficiaries

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, and is not BIA, is eligible. Please note funding for Alaskan Native Villages is administered as part of the Alaska state program separately and is not included in the total $4.3M under the announcement. Alaskan Native Villages interested in the approximate $184,000 allotted funding assistance for testing lead in school and child care drinking water should coordinate with the appropriate state agency.  Schools administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs are ineligible for assistance under this grant program. 

Additional Resources

Basic Factsheet

Letter to Tribal Consortia

Implementation Document

Regional Tribal Drinking Water Coordinators.

Tribal Consultations

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.