A group of Detroit students walked out of class in protest on Wednesday, the same day the state uses student attendance numbers to decide how much per-pupil funding school districts receive.
The students say they did it to draw attention to water contamination in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.
The district cut off drinking fountains and other drinking water sources before the school year started, after tests found high levels of lead and copper in some schools.
Douglas worries about how long students have been drinking contaminated water, and the effects it may have had.
And she says the district’s current temporary fix for the water problems, water coolers in schools, hasn’t been ideal for students.
Let me go to the first floor.
Let me go to the third floor.
Let me go try to find some water.” Cass Technical High School senior Maya Solomon wants more information about the ultimate source of the water contamination.
According to the district, those stations “cool water and remove copper, lead, and other contaminants from drinking water.” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti initiated the water quality testing in all district schools starting last spring.
Test results from 86 schools so far show that 57 of them had at least one drinking water source with elevated levels of lead or copper.

At least 1.8 billion people worldwide use a source of drinking water that is affected by fecal contamination.
Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that E. coli is responsible for approximately 63,000 deaths each year.
Detection of E. coli in drinking water is important not only because it can be dangerous in its own right, but also because E. coli’s presence serves as a fairly reliable marker of fecal contamination, which means other pathogens could be present, too.
E. coli provides conclusive evidence of recent fecal pollution and should not be present in drinking-water.” However, E. coli detection isn’t always easy or readily available.
In particular, a type of bacteriophage called a T7 coliphage is able to infect most strains of E. coli.
Nugen and colleagues designed their ‘T7NLC’ bacteriophage so that when it finds an E. coli bacterium and commences infection, this triggers production of the NLuc luciferase, which ultimately produces light.
Thus, if the engineered bacteriophage encounters E. coli in a water sample, it will glow.
“If the test determines the presence of E. coli, then you should not be drinking the water, because it indicates possible fecal contamination,” says Nugen.
"Global Good invents and implements technologies to improve the lives of people in the developing world,” says Hinkley.
"Phage-based detection technologies have the potential to rapidly determine if a water source is safe to drink, a result that serves to immediately improve the quality of life of those in the community through the prevention of disease.” Original Research:

Tucson Water recently shut down a treatment plant after discovering it was sending water contaminated with chemical compounds to thousands of residents of downtown and the city’s west and north sides.
Shortly after making that discovery, utility officials also learned that they had mistakenly thought for some time that uncontaminated water was coming out of the plant, which has long treated south-side water pollution.
The utility had been sampling the water at a point its officials thought was connected to the south-side treatment plant, but which actually was getting water from other sources, administrators said last week.
It turned out that water coming out of the treatment plant was now tainted with what’s known as perfluorinated chemicals, also known as PFAS compounds.
The plant’s water is served to a large V-shaped area, population about 60,000, stretching north from East 29th Street through downtown and flanking Interstate 10.
Because the utility hadn’t sampled points in the treatment plant’s water-delivery area until this year, Tucson Water officials say they don’t know how long the contaminated water had been served to customers there.
That’s also because the utility had repeatedly found none of the compounds when it sampled for them at a water main lying less than 2 miles north of the Santa Cruz Lane Reservoir where the TARP water is stored for delivery.
Since 2009, the utility had been sampling its well system and other points in its water-delivery network for the PFAS compounds.
Looking at old maps of its water system and visiting the area, utility officials discovered that the sampling spigot was actually connected to another main across the street from the water main where most of the TARP water was going, Biggs said.
Then, it took samples both at the treatment plant and in the distribution system, and found no PFAS compounds.

filled the Clark County Commission meeting Wednesday morning to voice concerns over a proposed lawsuit settlement that would have allowed a company to begin mining for limestone.
He said the public water is great in Clark County.
That’s for sure.” Donnelsville Water Issues The Environmental Protection Agency announced Donnelsville and its water issues have been put on a national list that allows the agency to provide federal funds to investigate and eliminate the problem of contaminated water.
Even with the filtration system, some residents said they are too concerned about the quality of the water to drink it.
“We don’t drink it or anything like that, so we’re still buying bottled water.” There has been action taken.
“The next step for new national priorities list sites such as the Donnelsville Contaminated Aquifer is to determine if there are any viable potentially responsible parties for the site,” a statement from the agency says.
“If there are no viable responsible parties or if the parties do not agree to conduct the remedial investigation or feasibility study, EPA initiates the procedures with federal funds, pending availability,” the agency said.
If at any time EPA discovers immediate acute threats to human health or the environment at our sites, we can initiate a removal cleanup actions to quickly address the problem.” The issue dates back decades, but in 2010 the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency tested multiple wells and found a chemical called PCE in 20 of them at concentrations exceeding the maximum contaminant level of 5 micrograms per liter.
2010 REPORT: Solvent found in Donnelsville wells poses health risk The EPA did install drinking water treatment systems in 2011 at the homes and the community park.
Peterson said Enon and the Mad River are known for having good water quality, but said he’s concerned mining conducted by the company could lead to contamination or damage to the area’s aquifer.

Plans to dump up to 15m tonnes of salt and other waste near a creek in drought-stricken Queensland carry a “considerable” risk of water contamination, a new study has found.
Approved plans to expand a dump near the town of Chinchilla allow salt waste from coal seam gas operations to be stored fewer than 100 metres from Stockyard Creek, in the headwaters of the Murray-Darling Basin.
How can you force a company to manage beyond the lifespan of the people who run the company?
Stuart Khan, an environmental engineering professor at the University of New South Wales, has completed a study for the NSW Environmental Defender’s Office that concludes there is considerable risk of water contamination.
The responsibility for managing these risks over the long term will likely be inherited by future generations.” Khan told Guardian Australia salt “does not biodegrade in the environment and has an infinite environmental residence time”.
He said the stockpile in close proximity to Stockyard Creek would “need a management plan that runs for centuries”.
“How can you force a company to manage beyond the lifespan of the people who run the company?” he said.
Queensland cotton farmer charged with $20m Murray-Darling plan fraud Read more The company that runs the dump, We Kando, has not yet sought an assessment under the EPBC act.
Guardian Australia understands the federal Department of Environment and Energy has recently written to the company “to ensure they were aware of their obligations”.
The Lock the Gate Alliance argues the plan meets the “water trigger” that requires assessment of mining or coal seam gas developments, including associated waste management, likely to have a significant impact on a water resource.

South Bossier Parish residents near Sligo Road could have been exposed to brain-eating amoebas.
Tests by the Louisiana Department and of Health and Hospitals at the Sligo Water System were positive for naegleria fowleri, a type of amoeba that can be fatal if it enters a person’s brain.
Water system officials found out about the test results today.
The positive test came from the valve where the water system takes in supplemental water from Bossier City.
Sligo Water System has stopped using supplemental water from Bossier City Wednesday.
Water system officials are notifying people and businesses from 300 Sligo Road at Bayou Drive to the Orchard subdivision, Lucky Estates, Plantation mobile home park and ending at the Sligo store, 1898 Sligo Road.
As a result of this sample, the water system will be performing a 60 day “chlorine burn”, where the residual chlorine will be maintained at somewhat higher levels than normal.
The chlorine level required by the Department of Health is safe for consumption.
No other sites tested showed contamination, according to the water system.

“And they are not designed perfectly.
They are not perfectly sealed.
Many of them suffer from cracks and breaks, in a variety of locations that usually don’t present themselves as a problem, but then all of a sudden you have these flood waters and storm surge waters rushing in, and it causes the contamination to leak out, and from that you basically get contamination of the system from a broad perspective.” Noble defined storm surge as “the ocean being pushed inland from the wind of the hurricane, and it’s also the direction of the wind coming from the hurricane."
“As a lab, it’s kind of all-hands-on-deck to get as many samples as we can.
We’ve been working with Division of Marine Fisheries Partners, and partners in other labs here," said Kelsey Jesser, a Ph.D. student working closely with Noble.
"Those just require a lot of time and manpower to get through, so we’ve all been working and will continue to work on that specifically."
Of the contaminants Noble tests for in North Carolina’s waters, her lab is most concerned about pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli.
This bacteria can be contracted through coming in contact with flood waters.
"Those types of bacteria that actually can cause really serious infections, wound infections that can cause people to be hospitalized within 12-24 hours."
"Being able to conduct research, that will hopefully better the quality of the lives of people in Beaufort, is very impactful for me," said Matthew Price, a Ph.D. student who specializes in stormwater and works at the Noble Lab.

The Huron River joins 35 contamination sites across the state — a list that includes Lake St. Clair and the Clinton River in Macomb County, a small community water supply in Parchment, residential wells around a Rockford tannery in West Michigan, and marshes, rivers and lakes around military bases in Oscoda, Alpena and Grayling.
State Rep. Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, introduced legislation last year to lower the health advisory level from 70 parts per trillion —advised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — to 5 parts per trillion.
Health officials have said the continued exposure to certain PFAS chemicals in drinking water could harm human health.
Drinking water testing In May, the state’s PFAS response team launched what it called the “most comprehensive statewide study of PFAS in water supplies,” when it began testing 1,841 public water systems and schools operating their own well for the contaminants.
The testing netted a big offender in July, when the city of Parchment’s water supply tested at 1,587 parts per trillion of PFAS chemicals, far exceeding the 70 ppt threshold.
The communities were placed under a state of emergency, and officials warned residents not to drink the water or cook with it until residents were hooked up to the Kalamazoo water supply.
At the federal level, a bipartisan contingent of Michigan U.S. representatives recently introduced a bill that would require federal agencies to develop a plan to address PFAS contamination in affected states.
Aug. 2012: DEQ staffer Robert Delaney pens “Michigan’s Contaminant Induced Health Crisis: Addressing Michigan’s Future by Facing the Challenge of the evolving Nature of Environmental Contamination.” 2012: "Do not eat" fish advisories issued for Clark’s Marsh and part of the AuSable River near Wurtsmith Early 2016: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services tells residents downstream of Wurtsmith to avoid using water for drinking or cooking.
March 2017: Camp Grayling tests positive for PFAS at concentrations higher than federal health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion.
Sept. 17, 2018: Health officials issue advisory against swallowing foam from Huron River.

LAHORE: Contaminated water is leading to inhabitants of village Kot Asadullah falling sick with bone and joint pains, reported Geo News.
The village in close proximity to the provincial capital has been affected by unhygienic water being provided in the area with residents falling gravely sick with extreme bone and joint aches leading to an inability to move.
One of the residents was cited by reports as saying: "The government needs to pay special attention and resolve this issue on an urgent basis.” Furthermore it was revealed by villagers that the contamination of the water supply was a result of chemicals emissions by factories in the area.
It was reported that a water plant established in the year 2000 remains out of order to date resulting in long queues of villagers at a filtration plant put in by an NGO.
“The land absorbs the chemicals from nearby factories which is why people are falling sick,” complained another inhabitant.
In reference to the issue, spokesperson of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Naeem-ur-Rehman stated that a similar occurrence had come afloat 20 years prior as well due an elevated level of fluoride in the water, while adding that: “There are 12 districts of Punjab where there are high levels of fluoride.” Moreover, the villagers had urged the government to jump in and take stern measures to resolve the issue.

The operator of the Fukushima No.
1 nuclear plant has said that much of the radioactive water stored at the plant isn’t clean enough and needs further treatment if it is to be released into the ocean.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. and the government had said that treatment of the water had removed all radioactive elements except tritium, which experts say is safe in small amounts.
Tepco said Friday that studies found the water still contains other elements, including radioactive iodine, cesium and strontium.
It said more than 80 percent of the 900,000 tons of water stored in large, densely packed tanks contains radioactivity exceeding limits for release into the environment.
Tepco general manager Junichi Matsumoto said radioactive elements remained, especially earlier in the crisis when plant workers had to deal with large amounts of contaminated water leaking from the wrecked reactors and could not afford time to stop the treatment machines to change filters frequently.
About 161,000 tons of the treated water has 10 to 100 times the limit for release into the environment, and another 65,200 tons has up to nearly 20,000 times the limit, Tepco said.
He was responding to growing public criticism and distrust about the status of the water.
More than 7½ years since a massive March 2011 earthquake and tsunami destroyed three reactors at the plant, Japan has yet to reach a consensus on what to do with the radioactive water.
The release option faced harsh criticism at meetings in Fukushima and Tokyo in late August, when Tepco and government officials provided little explanation of the water contamination, which had been reported in local media days earlier.