Over the last decade, officials have found unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and other contaminants in school drinking water across all fifty states. According to data released by the EPA, about one in five schools across the country have violated the Safe Drinking Water Act in the past decade. California recorded the highest number of violations, with over 600 schools providing unsafe drinking water statewide—and over half of those schools were repeat offenders! Experts explain that the root of the problem lies in the dispersion of responsibility over local, state and federal agencies, leaving countless omissions and unreported violations. Perhaps even more disheartening from an ecological standpoint is that many schools have found bottled water to be a cheaper solution than overhauling the school’s pipe systems, and have spent millions on plastic bottles. To learn more, see this New York Times coverage of this AP report.