Call for Submissions: Encouraging Healthy Hydration, Elkay® Launches Fountains for Youth™ Program for New Water Bottle Filling Stations to Schools Nationwide

OAK BROOK, Ill., July 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Elkay®, a leading drinking water delivery manufacturer, today announced the launch of the Fountains for Youth^™ initiative after a successful pilot program in the greater Chicagoland area. The program, which delivers fresh, filtered drinking water directly at the point-of-use through Elkay's award-winning filtered ezH2O^® bottle filling stations, is now accepting submissions for schools across the country at www.elkay.com/fountainsforyouth.

Aging pipes and eroding infrastructure are contributing to heightened levels of lead in our nation's water. Lead in schools is an ongoing issue that, if left unaddressed, can have a negative impact on youth, who are particularly susceptible to the effects of lead in water. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, nearly 13 million students attended schools where elevated levels of lead were found in 2017.¹

Elkay's Fountains for Youth program aims to support our schools around the country by offering filtered ezH2O bottle filling stations, shown to reduce 99 percent of lead when levels are at or below 150 parts per billion (ppb). With the program's national expansion, Elkay is pledging to donate up to 150 units in 2019, and providing units to an additional 100 schools by year end 2020. These donations are critical for schools given one of the largest hurdles in addressing this issue is funding.

"This program is an embodiment of Elkay's dedication to providing access to cleaner water for everyone," said Ted Hamilton, president of Elkay Plumbing. "In order to broaden our impact, we're launching this program on the national scale for the remainder of 2019 and pledging to support an additional 100 schools in conjunction with Elkay's centennial anniversary in 2020."

Fountains for Youth was initially implemented in three schools in the Chicagoland area, successfully delivering cleaner water to more than 2,000 students. With 16 units installed across the three schools, Elkay's filtered ezH2O bottle filling stations actively helped these schools lower their environmental footprints, having diverted thousands of plastic bottles from ending up in waste to date.

"The Fountains for Youth program is an important step forward in improving the health of our nation's students," said Arti Lyde, director of global drinking water at Elkay. "The health of our communities is something we take very seriously, and the donation of our filtered ezH2O units allow us to deliver cleaner water to schools in a cost-effective, efficient way."

Elkay is opening the nomination process for its Fountains for Youth program to any school across the country and encourages faculty, administrators and student families to submit their school for consideration. To submit your school and learn more about the program, along with additional school resources available, visit  www.elkay.com/fountainsforyouth.

About Elkay
Family owned since 1920, Elkay has been making innovative products and delivering exceptional customer care for almost a century. While proud to be America's No. 1 selling kitchen sink company, Elkay expanded its commercial offerings more than four decades ago, and today delivers faucets, foodservice fixtures, water coolers, water dispensers like its Smartwell® and ezH2O® Liv™ products, drinking fountains and award-winning ezH2O® bottle filling stations, in addition to world-class stainless steel and quartz sinks.

Like your family, Elkay has values and traditions that endure; like a commitment to sustainability and to our country. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, Elkay has been American-owned and operated, providing thousands of jobs that support our families and communities. To learn more about Elkay, visit www.corporate.elkay.com.

¹ "K-12 EDUCATION: Lead Testing of School Drinking Water Would Benefit from Improved Federal Guidance," U.S. Government Accountability Office, July 17, 2018.

SOURCE Elkay

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