William Pettigrew

SUMMIT TWP — A test conducted last week revealed E. coli bacteria in the untreated well water at Summit Township Elementary School.

The Butler School District announced Monday night that classes at the school will be canceled for the rest of the week. Teachers and staff at the school were instructed to not come to work today and will be told where to report Wednesday.

Officials are hoping to close the school down for even longer and have students go to the vacant Broad Street Elementary School in Butler instead, said William Pettigrew, head of the Summit project team formed last week to address high levels of copper and lead in the water.

The Butler School Board held an emergency meeting Monday night and directed officials to start working immediately on securing the necessary permits to have students go to Broad Street Elementary School.

That building was last used by the district during the 2014-15 school year, but was closed, along with several other elementary schools, as part of the district’s consolidation plan.

The bacteria was found while engineers are conducting a battery of different water tests to identify problems with the water system at Summit, Pettigrew said.

Samples of water collected last week from inside the school tested negative for E. coli because the well water gets treated with chlorine, Pettigrew said.

“E. coli never got into the school’s system and in its sinks; the chlorination got it,” he said.

Pettigrew said he does not think the presence of lead and copper are related to the E. coli.

Water has been shut off to the building’s sinks and water fountains for more than a week, though the well water was still being used for toilets and urinals.

Because of concerns about contact with lead and copper, students had been using portable hand-washing sinks and drinking bottled water at the school.

E. coli are a group of bacteria found in the environment, foods and the intestines of humans and animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some strains of E. coli can cause diarrhea, while others cause urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia.

Engineers will continue to do tests and investigate the building’s water system to work toward a plan to correct the issues there.

“Testing of the well and treated water will continue to be conducted until a clear and full understanding of the extent of the water quality issues has been obtained,” said a notice posted to the district’s website Monday.

Pettigrew said that he talked to an official from the state Department of Environmental Protection Monday afternoon after getting the test results. The district is following the DEP’s instructions on how to respond to such a result, including notifying the public, he said.

The district was set to offer free blood testing for copper and lead on Tuesday and Thursday at Summit Township Elementary School for students. The testing will be rescheduled and parents can still have testing done at any Butler Health System facility and receive reimbursement from the district.