Mathews elementary school using bottled water because of elevated arsenic level

Staff report

FOWLER

Parents of students at Currie Elementary School in the Mathews school district were notified Tuesday that elevated levels of arsenic found in the school’s well water resulted in bottled water being used this week. The school remained open.

Superintendent Lew Lowery said the school district’s water-testing company contacted the school district Friday to notify it that the arsenic reading was 11 parts per billion, one part per billion higher than the allowable level.

Bottled water was brought to the building, and the fountains and faucets were covered so that no one would use them until the school district receives word that the arsenic levels have fallen into the acceptable range, Lowery said.

The school is on Ridge Road.

The school district chlorinated the water to reduce the arsenic level, and the school’s testing company will test the water again today, Lowery said.

No students or adults have reported being harmed by the water, Lowery said. The school district was notified the water is OK for cooking or washing, but the district is not allowing anyone to use it until the arsenic level drops.

Lowery said he doesn’t know how long the arsenic level was above 10. The water was tested monthly, as is normal, but because the school district switched to a new testing company in early December, the chlorination of the water didn’t get done from mid-December to mid-January, Lowery said.

“Usually we chlorinate around four times per year,” Lowery added. “Really, you’d have to be exposed a long time to have adverse effects,” Lowery said.