There’s no evidence of contamination but funding is available to check The West Kern Water District is performing precautionary water testing for area schools.
The testing is not being done out of any imminent fear of contamination, but because of the availability of funding for schools to get the testing done.
Both the Water District and school officials said there is no evidence of harmful substances in the water here.
”…No event has precipitated this testing, other than the District wanting to be proactive in understanding the quality of the drinking water at its campuses,” Taft City School District Superintendent Julie Graves said in a letter sent to parents.
“It’s not testing for lead,” WKWD District Manager Harry Starkey told the Board of Directors Tuesday night.“We don’t have lead in our water.” Starkey said the tests will look for contaminants that may have leached into the water from pipes and fitting at school sites.
“This is part of a new grant program through the State Water Resources Board, which is making funding available for the purpose of improving access to, and quality of, drinking water in public schools,” Graves said in the letter.“Schools that demonstrate impaired drinking water quality are eligible to apply for funding, which may be used to ensure students and staff have access to safe drinking water at our sites.“ The WKWD Board approved testing with the TCSD and Midway School districts.
Testing is complete for Maricopa School and the tests came back negative, Starkey said.

WASH and schistosomiasis control partners met in Madagascar to determine ways to combine efforts to eliminate schistosomiasis.
The Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI) at Imperial College London, has been supporting treatment programmes against schistosomiasis in Madagascar since 2014 and has been successful in treating 2.9 million school-age children to date.
However, without continued treatment in areas of poor sanitation and clean water, the disease will quickly bounce back to pre-intervention levels.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) in Madagascar therefore feel it is important to start implementing WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) initiatives in the country in order to make disease control activities more sustainable and set-up a long-term solution to achieve elimination.
With coordination by the MoH, representatives from the schistosomiasis and WASH communities, including SCI, UNICEF-WASH, the World Health Organization and the Madagascan Ministry of Education, met on 28 September to discuss ways they could collaborate to achieve shared goals in improving sanitation and access to clean water in areas that need it most, and to control and eliminate schistosomiasis.
The MoH are determined to make the implementation of WASH initiatives possible to help achieve a greater impact in schistosomiasis reduction, and with the strong will of the WASH and schistosomiasis control partners to support these initiatives, they are sure to help them realise their ambitions.
Dr Sarah Nogaro, SCI’s Programme Advisor for Madagascar says: "This is the start of an exciting new collaboration between the health and WASH sector in Madagascar.
Combining efforts from both sectors will mean the synergy will be even greater and a leap forward in reaching the targets set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Photos and graphics subject to third party copyright used with permission or © Imperial College London.
Reporter

(CNN)More than a month since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the death toll from the storm has risen to 51, according to Puerto Rico’s Department of Public Safety The latest two victims died from leptospirosis, an infection that can spread after floods through contaminated water, Public Safety press officer Karixia Ortiz told CNN.
The cause of death is also included in the latest list of certified deaths just released by Puerto Rico’s Department of Public Safety.
Leptospirosis can be treated with antibiotics, and many people recover on their own.
But a small number may develop dire complications such as meningitis or kidney or liver failure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since the hurricane hit in September, many in Puerto Rico have not had access to clean drinking water or electricity.
Doctors and public health experts are worried that that the water crisis would lead to further health problems.
"They need water.
And we haven’t seen much of FEMA."
In early October, President Donald Trump told Puerto Rican officials they should be "very proud" that the death toll wasn’t as high as in "a real catastrophe like Katrina," referring to the 2005 hurricane that destroyed New Orleans.
"Every death is a horror," Trump said, "but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina and you look at the tremendous — hundreds and hundreds of people that died — and you look at what happened here with, really, a storm that was just totally overpowering … no one has ever seen anything like this."

PORTLAND, Ore. — Starting Wednesday, students at 15 schools can safely drink from the water fountains again.
Maintenance teams have been working overtime, yanking out and replacing the fixtures in drinking fountains.
Data the district collected suggest most of the lead problems were in the actual fixtures.
In some cases, parts of piping has been replaced, too.
The schools include Astor, Lewis, Woodstock, Chapman, Skyline, West Sylvan, Atkinson, Richmond, Rose City Park, Sacajawea, Beverly Cleary/Fernwood, Applegate, Chief Joseph, Meek, and Hayhurst.
PPS shut down all drinking fountains in May of 2016, after finding high lead levels in a number of schools.
It caused panic across the district and lead to the resignation and firing of some top school leaders.
Since the final week of school in May of 2016, students have been drinking bottled water.
It costs the district $800,000 a year to provide that water, of course you have to, students and staff have to have access to safe drinking water but obviously it’s much more preferable to have those water fixtures working," said Northfield.
It’s a $28 million project and is being funded through the massive school bond that passed in May 2017.

RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP/Getty Images More than a month after Hurricane Maria ripped across Puerto Rico with 155-mph winds, the recovery effort is moving excruciatingly slow.
Three-quarters of the island’s residents are still without power, forcing them to wait in long lines wherever power is available, so they can charge their cell phones.
And that’s if they can get service.
Simply put, every day is a bare bones struggle for Puerto Ricans, many of whom essentially are living like they are camping outside.
According to Oxfam America, less than half the population has access to potable water, and there is a developing risk of being exposed to cholera from drinking water contaminated with raw sewage.
As of last week, dozens of the island’s water treatment plants were inactive—that runoff was either seeping or pouring into drinking creeks, rivers and other drinking-water sources for the general population.
“At this stage in the humanitarian response, these conditions are unacceptable, and we need to see a more robust and efficient response from the U.S. government now.” Receive important daily stories covering politics and influential opinion leaders.
And because there isn’t electricity, most of that segment is also unable to boil water or cook.
So many structures were damaged or destroyed in the storm that many people sleep outside without tarps to cover them, without which they are exposed to the ongoing rains, rodents and mold.
Privately-formed volunteer groups like the Kennesaw, Georgia-based We Do Better and Chicago-based Puerto Rico Rising have been shipping supplies to villages on the island themselves, subverting the Jones Act and trumping (pun intended) Washington’s lackluster effort thus far.

“I will look at how human rights to water and sanitation are legally recognized and implemented in India at the national, state and local level, and how the provision of water and sanitation services adheres to human rights standards and principles,” said Léo Heller, the independent expert charged by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor, report and advise on the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation worldwide.
The human rights expert, who will visit the country at the invitation of the Government of India, will meet government representatives at national and local level as well as civil society and community organizations, residents in urban and rural areas, and UN officials.
Access will be strictly limited to members of the press.
Mr. Léo Heller (Brazil) is the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, appointed in November 2014.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.
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The danger of tap-water contamination has spurred a boil water advisory, starting Monday, across a wide area of Oakland County, affecting nearly 260,000 people in Bloomfield Township, Farmington Hills, Novi, Walled Lake and other communities.
It’s a public health advisory given by government officials when a city or community’s water system could be contaminated by bacteria.
People are advised to boil tap water or use bottled water for drinking, brushing teeth, washing fruits and vegetables, preparing food or making ice.
The boil-water advisory affecting 12 Oakland County communities will likely continue until at least late Friday evening, authorities said.
Repairs to the large, failing water main on 14 Mile Road between Farmington and Drake roads are estimated to take until Wednesday night, before two rounds of water-quality testing bring the earliest possible end to the emergency on "late Friday evening," according to a Great Lakes Water Authority news release.
Other communities, including West Bloomfield and Bloomfield Township, have already seen water pressure restored, and may finish the process of water quality testing before others.
All schools in the West Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills, Walled Lake and Novi school districts were closed Tuesday, in addition to portions of the Farmington and Birmingham public school districts.
The West Bloomfield district updated its web page late Tuesday afternoon to say school would be in session Wednesday.
In addition to school districts, a number of private schools – including Detroit Catholic Central in Novi and Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Township – and some preschools were closed Tuesday.
According to the advisory, you should bring all water to a boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using, or use bottled water.

At Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield, 15 patients in critical condition were moved to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
Robert Riney, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Henry Ford Health System, said scheduled c-sections were rerouted to other hospitals and all elective surgeries were canceled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We’ll take it day by day after that depending on the word we get of the water main,” Riney said.
Passing through the empty aisle, Novi resident Dale Kind, 60, said he wasn’t surprised by the run on bottled water.
The water authority says it’s working with community water departments to isolate water systems from the damaged portion of main in order to begin repairs.
The regional authority said residents in Wixom, Walled Lake, Commerce Township as well as parts of Novi may experience low to no water pressure as repairs occur because the communities are located at the end of this transmission main and cannot be served water through another part of the system.
The water authority said Tuesday in a statement that while it is trying to restore water to as many customers as possible.
There were dozens of school closings Tuesday.
They included the Novi Community Schools District, the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools, the West Bloomfield School District and Bloomfield Hills Schools.
The GLWA continues to investigate the cause of the break.

The governments of Canada and Ontario are committed to investing in local infrastructure which ensures Canadians and their families have access to modern, reliable water and wastewater services that meet their needs.
On behalf of the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Terry Sheehan, Member of Parliament for Sault Ste.
Marie today announced that five new projects in Batchewana and Garden River First Nation communities have been approved under the Government of Canada’s Clean Water and Wastewater Fund.
“Investing in water and wastewater treatment infrastructure is essential to maintaining a healthy environment and providing access to clean, reliable drinking water.
The Government of Canada is working with provinces, territories and municipalities across the country to support important projects like those in Batchewana and Garden River First Nation communities, to ensure healthy and sustainable water infrastructure now and for years to come.” said,The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.
“This announcement is about infrastructure.
But what do infrastructure investments actually mean for the riding of Sault Ste.
It’s about quality of life.
Access to reliable water and wastewater systems is essential for ALL Canadians, and this is why I am thrilled to see these investments being made.” added, Terry Sheehan, Sault MP.
Our People have known for many years that our water systems are sub – standard and everyone is deserving of quality water.

On the night of September 18, Hurricane Maria struck the eastern Caribbean island nation of Dominica as a Category five storm.
Maria’s relentless rains and winds devastated the country, killing at least 27 people and affecting all 71,000 island residents.
Landslides damaged the piped water distribution system that normally serves the coastal, western Mahaut area, forcing residents to rely upon contaminated river water for household water needs.
Virginia Frampton, a resident of the town of Mahaut, told members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) that since the storm residents noticed that children were sickened after drinking river water.
To address the need for safe drinking water in Mahaut, USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) funded the non-governmental organization Samaritan’s Purse to establish a temporary water treatment plant to provide hurricane-affected families with safe drinking water.
Located alongside a busy road, the treatment plant allows easy public access, ensuring that anyone passing through the area can stop and fill up water containers.
The troop leader, John Davidson, says that his troop is happy to volunteer their time to support and educate the community on the treatment system and response efforts.
As of October 4, the treatment plant has provided more than 25,000 gallons of purified water for residents of Mahaut and nearby communities.
A small team of USAID disaster experts remains on the ground in Dominica to monitor ongoing response activities and support early recovery efforts.
Editor’s Note: This entry also appears in the U.S. Department of State’s publication on Medium.com.