Milwaukee Public Schools announced this week that it is installing 700 new, filtered water filling stations and upgrading another 2,500 existing school drinking fountains with filters as part of a five-year partnership with Milwaukee-based Zurn Elkay Water Solutions.
The agreement includes a $2.2 million donation of Elkay drinking water filters to support the City of Milwaukee’s and MPS’s ongoing commitment to providing safer, cleaner drinking water to students, staff, and community members, according to a press release.
“School buildings are more than a place for education and social development: they’re a primary source of drinking water, and Zurn Elkay is here to help schools provide the cleanest, safest drinking water we can,” said Todd Adams, chairman and CEO of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions.
In an event with kindergarten students at Starms Early Childhood Center, 2616 W. Garfield St., Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, MPS Superintendent Keith P. Posley and Adams celebrated the signing of the support agreement between MPS and Zurn Elkay.
As part of the agreement to convert all existing MPS drinking fountains and bottle filling stations to Elkay filtration, Zurn Elkay will donate to MPS up to 3,250 filters annually through the 2027-28 school year to ensure that MPS’s drinking fountains and bottle filling stations stay filtered.
“The health and safety of our students is a top priority for Milwaukee Public Schools. The district began filtering water in our schools seven years ago,” Posley said. “Zurn Elkay’s generous gift to MPS will help ensure that students and staff all across the district continue to have the safest possible drinking water.”
Zurn Elkay says it aspires to provide the safest and most efficient water solutions to protect human health and the environment. Elkay drinking fountains, and bottle filling stations are manufactured in Illinois, and its filters are tested and certified to NSF/ANSI 42 and 53 to reduce lead and other harmful contaminants. Since 2012, use of Elkay bottle filling stations has avoided the use of more than 76 billion single-use plastic bottles, according to the company.
“For kids in Milwaukee and all across the country, school buildings are more than a place for education and social development. They’re a primary source of drinking water, and Zurn Elkay is here to help schools provide the cleanest, safest drinking water we can,” Adams said. “As a proud, Milwaukee-based company, we’re grateful that MPS has trusted Zurn Elkay with the opportunity to help ensure every MPS student, teacher and staff member has access to safer, cleaner drinking water.”
In 2016, MPS voluntarily began testing drinking water in all of its facilities. Following the test results, which revealed high lead levels in some of its drinking fountains, MPS announced that all schools in the district would be provided with filtration for their water fountains.
This week’s announcement reflects an expansion of this commitment, with MPS using federal ESSER funding to purchase an additional 700 Elkay bottle filling stations, increasing its total count of Elkay filtered drinking fountains and bottle filling stations to more than 3,200.
