On May 24, FASD discontinued all drinking water usage after receiving a boil water notice in the days following a routine test of water samples from the elementary and middle schools.

When Veolia, the district’s water service company, performed a test on the water in these buildings on May 20, the district was told that there was “something amiss with the sample,” according to Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Fuller. Another test was conducted on May 23 to further investigate the problem. By noon on May 24, the test showed a positive result for E. coli and coliform bacteria, and a boil water notice was issued for all residents and businesses between Harvey Run Road and Ninth Street Extension service area.

“We immediately got the administrative team together, we shut down all the water fountains, so all the water fountains in the district have bags over them, and there are signs up saying, ‘Don’t drink’ [and] signs up in all of the bathrooms saying, ‘Wash your hands, but you must use soap.’” Fuller said. “We immediately also went to the cafeteria, stopped lunch service for any lunches that hadn’t already gone through… We stopped that, held them off for a few minutes, so we could alter the lunch that was being provided, and then got them taken care of.”

In addition to the posted signs and covered water fountains, as of May 25, Veolia provided almost 200 cases of water bottles to the district, free of charge, for the staff and students, and more shipments are expected to arrive in addition to extra cases the district ordered through cafeteria services. The district also bought hand sanitizer for all classrooms and installed sanitizer dispensers outside of the elementary, middle and high schools’ cafeterias. In the cafeterias, although none of the planned menus called for a lot of water, food service workers are rinsing vegetables with bottled water and cleaning dishes with boiled water. As of May 25, no illnesses have been reported, and attendance is normal, according to Fuller.

“We are chlorinating and flushing the water system. We will conduct a thorough investigation to determine the source of contamination and will implement corrective actions to ensure that our water supplies are protected against contamination,” the New Sewickley Township Municipal Authority said in a statement on the Township’s website.

The notice also affects some FASD students whose homes are in the affected service areas. Tap water cannot be used for drinking, food preparation, brushing teeth, cleaning dishes or anything that includes the consumption of water in any way and in any quantity, so local residents must use bottled water or boil water before doing these tasks.

“With a family of seven, we go through a lot of water every day,” Junior Meghan Kiefer said. “We went out and bought six cases of bottled water and additional gallons of water. This means we can’t use our dishwasher, our showers, our sinks [and] we have to boil water if we want to wash dishes. This means using a lot of bottled and boiled water for everyday things, so we will be glad when the notice is lifted.”

The notice will remain in effect until test results for E. coli or any other bacteria come back negative for two consecutive days. A test was conducted in the afternoon of May 25, and the result from the 24-hour test is expected by May 26; however, nothing conclusive had been reported by press time.

Updates to this ongoing story will be posted at fhs-press.com as more information becomes available.

Update (May 26, 2:30 p.m.): The results from a test conducted on May 25 was negative for signs of bacteria in all three buildings. If the results from the May 26 test come back negative on May 27, the boil water notice will be limited.

Additionally, according to Director of Buildings and Grounds, Mr. Gary Mortimer, when water samples were taken from all three buildings on May 26, only the elementary and middle schools showed positive signs of E. coli.

“Apparently, there was enough protectant chlorine… in the system that defailed tests,” Mortimer said of the high school negative result, even though all three buildings use the same water line.

Mortimer also said that the last water testing was done a month before the E. coli discovery.

Update (May 27, 12:20 p.m.): Following a second day of negative bacteria tests, the boil water notice has been lifted.

“We are pleased to report that the problem has been corrected and that it is no longer necessary to boil your water. You may use your water immediately. You may notice a high amount of chlorine in the water,” the New Sewickley Municipal Authority said in an online statement.

“Thank you all for your patience and flexibility over these last few days. I truly appreciate how smoothly this difficult situation has been handled,” Fuller said in an email to district faculty and staff. “I also want to again acknowledge the New Sewickley Municipal Authority for their very quick response and efficient handling of the situation and thank them for their donation of the bottled water that was provided over the course of the last several days.”