The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cut nearly 20% of its workforce due to a recent reduction in force called for by the current administration. Several divisions were eliminated, including ones responsible for monitoring air and water quality, preventing childhood lead poisoning, and supporting safe drinking water initiatives.
On Tuesday, April 1, 2025, people working for the Department of Health and Human Services began receiving notices saying their jobs had been terminated [archived link]. This “reduction in force” (or RIF) had a huge impact on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). about 2,400 jobs were cut (or 18% of the workforce) and several centers, divisions, and programs were completely eliminated. Here are some examples of impacted programs.
➡️ The Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice (DEHSP) funded programs, like the Safe Water program described below, that helped ensure safe food and water practices [archived link] in state and local health departments. They also:
✅ Monitored air quality and its impact on people living with asthma.
✅ Tracked environmental health threats, like radiation or air pollution, and helped local health departments respond.
✅ Worked to eliminate lead poisoning in children.
➡️ The Safe Water program funded local health department programs that focused on improving access to safe drinking water in private well systems [archived link]. About 15% of Americans get their drinking water from private wells [archived link]. Some of the goals of the program were to identify potential health risks from well water, find ways to address those risks, and then evaluate how well those interventions worked.
From 2015-2020 [archived link], the Safe Water program funded programs in Arizona, Connecticut, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The Safe Water program works! During this time they:
✅ Identified more than 200,000 records about private wells and digitized them.
✅ Distributed more than 9,000 drinking water sampling kits during outreach activities.
✅ Tested more than 26,000 well water samples, finding more than 4,000 contained high contamination levels.
✅ Conducted nearly 500 outreach activities and created almost 200 partnerships to reduce hazardous exposures.
💡Without the Safe Water program, it is unlikely that small communities will be able to afford these prevention activities, and private wells could become contaminated, harming the health of families and children living in those communities.
Stay tuned for more information on critical programs that were lost or displaced due to the reduction in funding.
Link to Original Substack Post
