Lead Testing in Drinking Water at Family Child Care Homes and Child Care Facilities

If your child care facility has not participated in the Test and Fix Water for Kids program before, or if you’ve changed locations, you are eligible to enroll in this program to receive free lead testing and, if needed, free remediation (fixing lead issues in the water). You will need your child care provider license number to complete the form.

Application for child care facilities

If your family child care home has not participated in the Test and Fix Water for Kids program before, or if you’ve changed locations, you are eligible to enroll in this program to receive free lead testing and, if needed, free remediation (fixing lead issues in the water). You will need your child care provider license number to complete the form.

Application for family child care homes

Please email us at TestandFixWater@state.co.us and include your name, facility name, and license number.

Once you enroll, the contractor will contact you to schedule a visit to your facility, create a water sampling plan, perform water testing, and coordinate any necessary fixes, also known as remediation (fixing any lead problems). All contracted services are free.

If you haven’t participated in the program before or have moved to a new physical location, this is your opportunity to test your drinking water for free and fix any lead problems, if needed. It’s an easy way to make sure the drinking water in your facility is safe for children.

Participation is voluntary. If you choose not to enroll, there are no consequences, but testing and remediation can provide peace of mind and protect the health of the children in your care.

If bottled water is your only water source for cooking, and drinking, you should opt out of this program. However, this program offers a unique opportunity to test your tap water and potentially fix plumbing issues so that you may no longer need to use bottled water. This program does not test bottled water — we will only test your tap water.

If you rely on a lead-filtering pitcher for drinking water, you should opt out of the program if you plan to continue using it indefinitely. However, this is a unique opportunity to test your tap water and potentially fix plumbing issues so that you may no longer need to use a filtered water pitcher. If you test your water, it needs to be from the faucet itself, not the pitcher.

In each child care building, you must test all water fixtures where water is used for drinking or preparing food for children. If your multiple licenses are co-located within the same building, sampling only needs to be performed once at each fixture under the main license number. Please indicate your multiple licenses on the child care facility application form. 

If you administer one, two, three, or four child care centers physically located at different physical addresses, please complete the form for each location.

Any licensed child care facility that did not participate in the 2023 Test and Fix Water for Kids program or has moved to a previously untested location and does NOT fall under the categories below is eligible:

• If your program is a resident camp or summer camp (programs serving solely during the summer months). Your program is not eligible in this program but may use the department guidance documents to develop their own lead testing program.
• If your program was tested in the 2022-2023 Test and Fix Water for Kids program and is still located in the same physical building that was tested, your program is not eligible. If you are unsure whether your child care facility participated in the 2023 program, visit our lead results webpage to search by child care name or license number.

Please note

As part of this program, priority will be given to sampling in communities that are disproportionately affected by environmental and health disparities. Our goal is to ensure equitable access to clean and safe water for all children across Colorado. Please let us know if your facility is serving one of these communities.

If you administer five or more child care locations, please email us at TestandFixWater@state.co.us so we can help you streamline the enrollment process.

Regular testing every 3-5 years is recommended, and your public water system is a great resource. However, the water testing at your building by the public water system does not provide any funding for fixing any internal building causes of lead in drinking water. This one-time program is free through the Test and Fix Water for Kids Program and coordinates necessary fixes to reduce lead levels.

Only test fixtures used for drinking or preparing food. These typically include kitchen sinks, pot fillers, drinking fountains, and bottle fillers, or any faucet where children are likely to drink. In general, consumption of water from bathroom sinks is not recommended, and these fixtures should be designated as hand-washing locations only.

Sampling should be conducted only at faucets where there is a reasonable expectation that children will be drinking or at faucets where water is used for preparing food for children. Unless your facility actively encourages and expects children to fill water bottles or cups at a bathroom sink, these sinks do not need to be included for sampling.

The total samples depends on your building. For most child care facilities, the total samples can range from less than 10 to 40, depending on the size of the building. The contractor will help determine the exact number during your site visit.

We still need to test the filtered water. The contractor will document whether a filter is present as part of your sampling plan.

No. The contractor will handle all aspects of sample collection and delivery. The process typically takes less than 30 minutes for a small child care facility or home to complete and may take up to two hours for larger facilities with more than 30 faucets.

Yes. If you’d like to handle the sampling yourself using our materials, please contact us via email at TestandFixWater@state.co.us to discuss this option.

To ensure accurate lead results, the samples must be taken after water has been sitting unused in the pipes for 8–18 hours. The contractor will coordinate with you to select a day and time that meets this requirement. The visit will likely occur early in the morning. The contractor will need someone from your facility to give them access to the building. It is important that the sampling takes place in the early morning before anyone uses any water that day.

Do not sample after holidays and breaks. Do not flush the toilet first thing in the morning until AFTER samples have been collected. If someone accidentally uses the water before sampling, the contractor will reschedule to sample on another day.

Be sure to notify those who use water in your building when sampling is scheduled. You can post signs at water fixtures reminding your staff not to use the fixture in the morning until you have collected samples.

The contractor will transport the samples to the lab. Once analysis is complete, you will receive results by email and a follow-up call from the contractor.

The department will publish your results on the Test and Fix Water for Kids webpage as soon as the results are reported.

Yes. You must notify staff and parents/guardians within two business days of receiving the results.

The EPA’s 3Ts guidance recommends these simple steps:

• Before drinking, run the water fixture for 30 seconds.
• Use cold water only for drinking, cooking, or preparing formula. Boiling water does not remove lead.
• Regularly clean faucet aerators/screens to remove trapped particles.
• If you use a filter certified to remove lead, maintain it regularly.

No. This is a one-time screening. The EPA recommends testing every 3–5 years, but ongoing retesting is not covered by Test and Fix Water for Kids. For future testing, we recommend visiting CDPHE’s Drinking Water Consumer Information and Data webpage to find additional resources.

“Parts per billion” (ppb) is a way to measure how much lead is in your water. It’s the
same as micrograms per liter (µg/L).

• 1 ppb = 1 µg/L
• 5 ppb = 0.005 ppm (milligrams per liter)

The lab report results in decimals, like 4.5 ppb. Results are rounded to the nearest whole number:

• 4.5 ppb rounds up to 5 ppb → Action required
• 4.4 ppb rounds down to 4 ppb → No action needed

We take two samples: a first-draw sample (water that sits in the fixture) and a flush sample (water after running the faucet for 30 seconds).

• If lead is in the first-draw sample but not the flush sample, the fixture is likely the problem.
• If lead is in both samples, the plumbing is likely the source.

Our team will help you work through the next steps and the best remedial action to reduce lead levels.

If your test results show that lead levels in any drinking or cooking taps are 4.5 parts per billion (ppb) or higher, then as soon as you receive your results you must:

• Stop using the taps that tested at 4.5 ppb or higher for drinking or cooking.
• Use a different water fixture for these purposes.
• Let parents and staff know the test results and that you have stopped using the affected fixtures for drinking or cooking.
• Create a plan to fix the issue for each fixture that tested at 4.5 ppb or higher. The contractor will help you make this plan.
• Do NOT start fixing anything until the plan is approved. Starting workwithout an approved plan could delay the process and affect your ability to receive free assistance.

If you would like to remediate on your own, you must get prior approval for the activities and the costs from our contractor and you must save all receipts. This is considered reimbursable remediation where you are paid back after you complete the work.

Please reach out to our contractor if you are considering performing work yourself or hiring a professional directly.

After fixing all issues found, a follow-up test (called a confirmation sample) is required and the contractor will schedule a time to collect the sample on-site. The confirmation sample will be collected to make sure the lead levels are 4.4 ppb or lower. The fixture can only be used for cooking or drinking after the confirmation test shows the lead has been reduced.