By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The water is safe to drink at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South and Grover Middle School, and school district officials are taking steps to test and ensure that the drinking water is safe in the other schools, as well., Testing the water for the presence of lead is mandated by the state Department of Education, Superintendent of Schools David Aderhold wrote in a series of letters posted on the school district website this week. The directive requires all public school districts to test for lead in the water by the end of the 2016-17 school year., West Windsor school district officials tested the water at the two high schools during the winter recess, and tested the two middle schools on Jan. 16, Dr. Aderhold wrote. The elementary schools have not yet been tested for lead., Consultant PARS Environmental Inc.’s tests detected elevated levels of lead in several locations at both high schools, but “it is important to note that all water fountains were found to be within the acceptable levels (and safe to drink),” he wrote., In the follow-up testing at the high schools, all retested samples at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South were acceptable, Dr. Aderhold wrote. One location at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, in the Main Office, did not meet the standard and will be turned off until the water fixture can be replaced and tested., At Grover Middle School, all of the water samples were found to be within the acceptable standard. But at Community Middle School, three samples exceeded the maximum of 15 parts per billion, Dr. Aderhold wrote. Those locations have been turned off and will be retested., “Once we have the results from the retesting, we will share them,” Dr. Aderhold wrote. “As a reminder, WW-P plans to test the other six schools in the next few months. As always, the health and safety of our students and staff is our greatest priority.”
