Upper Dublin parents asked to send kids to school with bottled water
HORSHAM, Pa. (WPVI) -- Parents in the Upper Dublin School District are being asked to send their children to school with bottled water, and one state representative is calling for school officials to do more.
"We should not tolerate chemicals in our schools and the Upper Dublin School District needs to do more," said North Wales Republican State Rep. Todd Stephens.
The issue: certain contaminants, that are measured in parts per trillion, in drinking water.
Stephens believes the district is being too lax.
"They should immediately take water fountains off-line. They should immediately take cooking sinks off-line, test the water and then we should remediate to a non-detect standard," he said.
The district said Friday it planned to do much of that to test the water and place filters on at least some of the water fountains inside its schools.
Upper Dublin School District Superintendent Steve Yanni said, "We are going to shut the fountains off that don't have filters on them just out of an abundance of caution. But we will have water fountains with filters on others."
But some wonder if the district's filters will remove enough of the contaminants.
Resident Jill Florin showed us a system which removes the suspect compounds down to a level that's termed, "Non-detect which means less than two parts per trillion by the method that's used by this lab," she said.
The large unit costs about $1500 - $300 a year more for replacement filter material.
"The health of my family is important and I feel like water is something we need to live. We don't have a choice to drink it or not - we need it," said Florin.
The school superintendent said via email this afternoon that the ultimate goal of the fountains with filters will be that non-detect level. They will also have an emergency supply of bottled water.
------
Send a News Tip to Action News
Learn More About 6abc Apps
