Milwaukee Public Schools and Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Announce Multi-Year Partnership and $2.2 Million Donation as Kids Return to School

By: Zurn Elkay Water Solutions via Business Wire

August 28, 2023 at 19:13 PM EDT

Zurn Elkay donates $2.2 million of Elkay drinking water filters to support MPS and the City of Milwaukee’s ongoing commitment to providing safer, cleaner drinking water.

MPS is installing 700 new Elkay filtered bottle filling stations and has converted 2,500 existing filtered drinking fountains to the Elkay filtration system, using donated water filter connectors and filters.

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (NYSE: ZWS) today announced a partnership with Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and a $2.2 million donation of its 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.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230828006193/en/

As kids return to school, Zurn Elkay Chairman and CEO Todd Adams joined Starms Early Childhood kindergarteners to announce the company's new five-year partnership with Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). 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. (Photo: Business Wire)

In an event with kindergarten students at Starms Early Childhood Center, 2616 W. Garfield St., Mayor Cavalier Johnson, MPS Superintendent Dr. Keith P. Posley and Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Chairman and CEO Todd A. Adams celebrated the signing of a five-year 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, giving students, staff and community members access to safer, cleaner water at school.

“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,” Dr. 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.”

Headquartered in the heart of Milwaukee’s Clean Water Technology Hub, Zurn Elkay aspires to provide the safest and most efficient water solutions to protect human health and the environment. Its 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.

“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, MPS announced that all schools in the district would be provided with filtration for their water fountains. Today’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.

For photos and video from today’s announcement, please visit

zurnelkay.com/press-room/press-kits.

About Milwaukee Public Schools

Milwaukee Public Schools is committed to accelerating student achievement, building positive relationships between youth and adults and cultivating leadership at all levels. The district's commitment to improvement continues to show results:

94 percent of proposed 2023-24 budget dollars go directly to classrooms;
MPS offers one of the most extensive Montessori programs in the country, including the only public K3 to grade 12 Montessori school in the nation; and
More than 70 MPS high school students have earned the Seal of Biliteracy, sanctioned by the State of Wisconsin, for proficiency in multiple languages.

Learn more about MPS by visiting mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us. More news is available at mpsmke.com/news.

About Zurn Elkay Water Solutions

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions designs, procures, manufactures and markets the industry’s widest range of clean water solutions for drinking water, hygiene and sustainable water management to improve health, human safety and the environment. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Zurn Elkay works with customers around the globe to deliver products and systems that enhance and ensure water quality, safety, hygiene, flow control and conservation. In everything we do, we are sustainably inspired. Learn more at www.zurnelkay.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230828006193/en/

"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.

Contacts

Stephen Davis, MPS Media Relations Manager

davis2@milwaukee.k12.wi.us / 414-688-9664

Angela Hersil, Vice President - Corporate Communications

corporate.communications@zurn.com / 414-808-0199

Jeff Fleming, Mayor’s Communications Director

jeff.fleming2@milwaukee.gov / 414-559-2497

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Milwaukee Public Schools and Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Announce Multi-Year Partnership and $2.2 Million Donation as Kids Return to School

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