Company donates 250 filtered faucets to Syracuse childcare centers

A Chicago company has put filtered water at the kitchen sink in 60 Syracuse-area in-home childcare centers, a small hardware change that could matter every day for babies, toddlers and the adults who care for them.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions donated 250 Elkay Avado 2-in-1 Filtered Kitchen Faucets during a Child Care Professionals Appreciation Day event at the Collegian Hotel, giving providers equipment meant to reduce lead and other contaminants where drinking water is drawn and food is prepared. The company said the effort was intended to combat lead in drinking water head-on.

For home-based childcare operators, the upgrade can change the daily routine immediately. Instead of relying on pitchers or waiting for a larger plumbing project, providers can use a filtered faucet at the sink for bottles, snacks, cooking and handwashing. That matters in older housing stock, where families and childcare operators have long worried about lead in water service lines.

The donation lands in the middle of a broader local push to lower that risk. In November 2024, Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse announced a free water-filter distribution program for households with pregnant women and children 6 and under. Officials said the program was aimed at reducing exposure to lead that could be present in city water service lines.

That concern is not theoretical. WRVO has reported that lead service lines are a concern in about 2,700 homes in Syracuse, and the city says it is replacing those lines on an accelerated schedule, with plans to replace more than 3,000 in the next year. The Onondaga County Health Department also reported lead testing at five Syracuse pre-K programs in May and June 2024, with 141 children tested.

Taken together, the faucet donation and the public filter program show how the region is trying to reduce exposure from more than one angle: by removing old lead service lines, by distributing filters to households with young children, and now by putting filtration directly into the places where some of the youngest Syracuse children spend their day.

For parents, the result is simple. Water used for a bottle, a cup of milk or a bowl of pasta is one less thing to worry about. For childcare providers, the faucets offer a visible, immediate upgrade in homes where water safety has become part of the child-care conversation.