Students at Knoch High School

The results are in, and 21 water fixtures of South Butler School District still show contamination.

Gannett Fleming conducted a second round of testing on the district's water sources in July.

This testing followed the results of the first round that revealed 38 drinking and food preparation water fixtures contained at or above 50 percent of the state Department of Environmental Protection's levels for lead and copper.

The 38 water fixtures that showed initial contamination, as well as an additional five that needed to be retested due to inadvertent errors during the first round of testing, were retested.

Of the 21 contaminated fixtures, nine were found at Knoch High School, 10 were found at South Butler Intermediate Elementary School and two were found at South Butler Primary School.

District solicitor Tom Breth, speaking at the South Butler School Board meeting Wednesday night, said Gannett Fleming suspects most of the 21 remaining fixtures that showed contamination don't contain a problem with the fixtures themselves.

The initial testing was done because of “water quality issues facing public school districts in Pennsylvania,” according to a letter drafted by the district in July.

Water fixtures that tested below 50 percent of the DEP's action level were cleared for use by the district.

Breth said all of the water fixtures that showed contamination are in the process of being replaced.

“That's almost completed, and will be completed before the beginning of school,” Breth said.

However, a third round of testing and additional exploration into the source of contamination will not be completed before school starts.

Breth said those fixtures that showed contamination will not be used until the problem is remedied.

A full report will appear in the Butler Eagle.