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Residents blaming school pipes

Summit Township Elementary School sits on a hill behind a row of houses. Several residents who live along Bonniebrook Road and have wells say they are not worried that the school's water troubles affect them.
Wells are not cause for concern

SUMMIT TWP — Multiple nearby residents of Summit Township Elementary School weren’t overly concerned about their own well water when they heard about the school’s water troubles.

The school, it was revealed in January, had unsafe levels of lead in its water since August. Students are being taught at Broad Street Elementary School while the problem is being resolved. Testing also showed an unsafe level of copper in the water in the school’s pipes.

Additionally, E.coli was found when the well water was tested. However, E.coli was not found in the school’s water system, suggesting that the school’s filtration system was effective.

Fred Martin, 66, lives at 557 Bonniebrook Road, behind Summit elementary. He had his well water tested a few weeks after the school’s water issues were made public.

“I wasn’t really concerned because I’ve lived here all my life,” he said. “That school has always had terrible tasting water.”

He added that when his children went to Summit elementary, they brought their own water to school so they wouldn’t have to drink the school’s water.

Martin’s results came back with less than .002 percent of lead in his water, a safe amount.

“The E. coli that was found in the (school’s) well was more concerning than the lead,” he said.

However, Martin doesn’t believe the lead is coming from the well. He noted that the school is old, and that old pipes were often made of copper with lead soldering.

“All those factors put together made me think it’s probably the school’s pipes,” he said. “I’m sure they haven’t done much to any of them.”

Martin said he wouldn’t mind paying a little more for public water, rather than his well water.

Mindy Steere lives a few doors down from Martin at 543 Bonniebrook Road, and also uses well water. She said that since fracking has been done nearby she has had her water tested and there have been higher levels of manganese in her water.

However, she has not had her well water tested since the school’s water issues were announced in January.

“We do have the in-house water filtration system, and I think (the school’s issue) has a lot to do with the old piping,” said Steere, who attended Summit elementary as a child. “That school’s been there a long time and as far as I know nothing has ever been replaced.”

Chris Watson, 40, lives at 439 Bonniebrook Road, and also hasn’t had his well water tested since the school’s announcement.

He gets his well water tested on an annual basis, but like Steere, isn’t concerned.

“It wasn’t a real big deal to me, but I was concerned for the parents of the kids up there,” he said. “But I believe it’s the (school’s) pipes and not the well.”

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