BUTLER TWP — The Butler School Board Monday night voted to submit a letter to Pennsylvania American Water committing the district to tie in to a new public water line to be extended to Summit Township Elementary School.

Water at Summit elementary, which is on a well, has high levels of lead and copper, according to recent multiple tests. The untreated well water has also tested positive for E. coli bacteria.

The school board in February opted to close the school temporarily and have the teachers and students use the vacant Broad Street Elementary School.

Though the costs and many of the details associated with the public water project are still unclear, officials said they are hopeful that construction can be finished in time for the first day of the 2017-18 school year.

“They are going to do what they can to get it there for the start of school next year,” Assistant Superintendent Brian Slamecka said Monday.

Slamecka said that he and board member Neil Convery recently attended a meeting with the water company and township and state officials.

The water company’s representatives said that once it received a letter of commitment from the district, it was ready to start engineering and design work on a project to extend a line from Hinchberger Road to Herman Road up Bonniebrook Road to the intersection with Brinker Road. The water company would cover all of the costs to extend the line that far, but the district would have to pay to have the line go down Brinker Road and connect to the school, Slamecka said.

It was unknown Monday how a water line extension would impact other residences and businesses on those roads.