SUMMIT TWP — Experts hired by the Butler School District believe that the well water at Summit Township Elementary School has gotten more corrosive over time, which caused copper and lead from plumbing fixtures to dissolve.

Representatives of engineering firm Gannett Fleming Thursday night spoke before the school board and community members at a special meeting held at the Herman Fire Hall.

Gannett Fleming on Jan. 27 collected samples from 13 different locations at the school. They will conduct another round of tests next week before making recommendations to the district sometime next month.

The initial results show that the water taken directly from the well does not contain high levels of lead or copper, though samples taken from inside the building did test at unsafe levels.

“From the results of the first round of tests, it appears basically that the source of the lead and copper is the plumbing components and not the well,” engineer Dan Goncz said.

The school has copper pipes, but many of the pipes are joined by lead soldering, they said.

Copper pipes are safe and still commonly used, but lead pipes and soldering were banned in the United States in 1987, said Eric Buzza, operations specialist with Gannett Fleming.

Their recommendation to the district likely will include replacing the pipe connecting the well to the building with a plastic pipe, replacing some, or all, of the pipes and fixtures in the building that contain lead, and installing a new treatment system that would raise the pH level of the well water to make it less corrosive.

The engineers also will do a sanitary survey that is required by the state Department of Environmental Protection after E. coli bacteria was discovered in the untreated well water last month.

Water circulated in the building is disinfected with chlorine, which kills pathogens such as E. coli. However, another recommendation by the firm might be to install an alarm system that would alert officials or shut the water off if the level of disinfectant in the water drops below a minimum level.

The DEP requires schools to test for lead and copper every three years, though now that there has been a violation at Summit the district will be required to test from 10 locations at the school at least every six months.

One unanswered question asked by several residents was what could have caused the water coming out of the ground to become more corrosive.

There could be numerous explanations and Gannett Fleming is only working to identify and recommend corrective action for the school, Buzza said.

“There is a strong possibility that the water in the well has changed over time. This has likely not been going on for 20 years, in my opinion,” he said.

School board President Nina Teff said the district’s first priority will be making improvements to the Summit school.

“We need to do our own in-house work before we look externally,” Teff said.

XTO Energy has a gas well on a neighboring property and the district will reach out to them, she said.

A water test conducted in January showed zero volatile organic compounds — a group of 21 chemicals that are used in industrial processes such as unconventional gas drilling.

While the engineers continue to test the building, another possibility that officials are investigating is whether a public water line could be extended and connected to the school, said acting Superintendent William Pettigrew.

In response to a question about closing Summit elementary permanently, Pettigrew said that the decision would be made by the board, but it has not been discussed.

“I have not heard that one iota,” he said.

Since Monday, the Summit students have been going to Broad Street Elementary School in Butler. There have been no problems with the building, though Pettigrew apologized for busing delays on Tuesday that were caused by a gas leak and a bomb threat at other schools in the district.

Lead poisoning

Bonnie Fulkerson, with the state Department of Health, also spoke at the meeting to provide information about lead poisoning.

The department is notified and provides counseling to anyone who has at least 5 micrograms per deciliter of lead in their blood, she said.

Though patients are advised to consult a doctor, one way to reduce lead in the blood is to have a diet that includes a lot of calcium and protein, which prevents lead in the blood from being absorbed into bones and tissue, she said.

Anyone with more than 45 micrograms per deciliter of lead would be hospitalized.

Houses built before 1978 might have paint containing lead and items such as jewelry or keys can also contain lead, though lead cannot be absorbed through skin contact alone.

“We’re exposed to it every day, but the problems come only from drinking or ingesting it,” she said.

People also can get screenings done at their homes to try and identify and sources of lead that children might be exposed to.

The Butler County office of the Department of Health can be reached at 724-287-1769.

Resignations

Though several residents asked questions about the resignation Sunday of former Superintendent Dr. Dale Lumley, Teff said officials would not discuss specifics about personnel matters.

The board will hold its next regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the auditorium of the Intermediate High School in Butler Township. The board is expected to vote to ratify accepting Lumley’s resignation and will vote on other business pertaining to Summit school, Teff said. Maintenance director Glenn Terwilliger, who was suspended with pay, also put in his resignation on Monday.

The board will not make any other personnel moves relating to Summit elementary until after a private investigation into the district’s delayed response to test results is finished, Teff said.