Lead-Free Water Filling Stations Installed at Marion, Alabama School

Students at Francis Marion School in Marion, Alabama, now fill their water bottles at three new filtered stations in the school’s halls. Every round of lab testing has found no detectable lead in the water those stations deliver.

Perry County School District staff, students and Communities Unlimited (CU) gathered at the pre-K–12 school on Oct. 2 for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the new stations.

For Principal Demetrice Jackson, the project closed out a long-standing goal for the district: clearing up concerns about the school’s water, where a small amount of lead had previously been detected.

Grant Funding Helps Address Drinking Water Concerns

“It’s tremendous help for the community itself because now the parents are confident in letting their child or scholar drink the water here at the school,” Jackson said.

Marion is a town of about 3,000 people outside Selma and the seat of Perry County, a persistent poverty county. Francis Marion is an older building, and every student qualifies for free lunch. Those factors made the school eligible for a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lead-reduction grant program created under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act.

Superintendent Dr. Marcia Smiley wrote a letter of support when CU applied for the funding. Once the grant came through, the district enrolled Francis Marion in fall 2025.

Testing Every Fountain in the Building

That November, Alexis Nank, a Community Infrastructure Management Consultant with CU, walked the building and mapped every drinking fountain. Her 37-page site assessment found that two fountains had tested above the minimum detectable level for lead and that others no longer worked. The district used those findings to decide which fountains to replace.

After weighing a quote from a local plumber, the district installed the stations. Nank worked alongside two maintenance staff members on installation day in the spring. The crew installed two stations that day and returned several weeks later to put in the third.

Six Months of Testing, No Detectable Lead

Then came the testing. The program requires six months of water sampling after installation. Nank said she walked the school’s halls around 5 a.m. several times to collect samples before anyone arrived. Lab result rounds found no detectable lead at any of the three stations.

Students now use the stations every day.

“Especially during cheer practice, I’ll be thirsty, so I want water a lot,” said eleventh grader Mackenzie Tubbs. “I don’t always bring my own water bottle, and I feel like the station has been good. It tastes like purified water.”

Classmate Mia Bensley brings a water bottle every day and said filling it is much easier now.

“The water tastes good. Good and natural. It doesn’t taste like any chemicals at all,” Bensley said.

Jackson said the response from students has been strong.

“They have good, clean water, and they’re able to drink it,” Jackson said. “There’s no lead in the water and nothing that’s going to be harmful to their health.”

Cutting Bottled Water, Building a Sustainability Plan

The stations have also cut the school’s reliance on purchased and donated cases of bottled water. CU provided reusable water bottles featuring the school’s logo and colors, enough to match the school’s enrollment for the year, and students can refill them at the stations throughout the day.

Each station has a sensor-activated spout and a light that signals when its filter needs changing. Building maintenance staff watch for that signal and contact the district’s central office maintenance team when a filter needs to be replaced.

CU also provided the school with a Lead Reduction Sustainability Plan in a binder. It covers cleaning procedures, flushing schedules, replacement parts and filter replacement schedules for every fountain in the building. In August, Nank also led a session on lead reduction for Perry County faculty during their back-to-school professional development day, part of CU’s broader water and wastewater systems work across rural communities.

“Such a Vital Component of Growing Up”

“For any school or any child, having clean, safe drinking water is vital,” Nank said. “They need that resource to have healthy bodies, to play sports, to have healthy minds and to learn. It’s such a vital component of growing up.”

Speaking on behalf of Perry County Schools and Francis Marion, Jackson thanked the partners who connected the school with resources a small rural district might not otherwise have.