Four years after reports surfaced that tap water in Flint, Michigan, was contaminated with lead, Detroit’s public school district is shutting off drinking water after tests revealed large amounts of lead or copper at a majority of its schools.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti decided to turn off the water at the district’s 24 schools after "water in 16 of them was found to have high levels" of the substances.
"Although we have no evidence that there are elevated levels of copper or lead in our other schools where we are awaiting test results, out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of our students and employees, I am turning off all drinking water in our schools until a deeper and broader analysis can be conducted to determine the long-term solutions for all schools," Vitti said in a statement to the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday.
District officials said aging water fixtures may have caused the contamination, the AP reported.
The Great Lakes Water Authority, which provides water to the schools, "says its water surpasses all federal standards," according to the AP.
Over 40,000 students attend schools in the district, whose school year begins next week.
Read more here or here.
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.

“We’re not in the way of the pipeline.
The pipeline is in the way of us,” he says.
Loewen says such camps are also expected to appear in the towns of Circle, 50 miles south of the Missouri, 50 miles up the Milk River in Hinsdale, and more than 100 miles to the south-east in Baker, where an oil on-ramp will be built for Bakken oil.
Let the pipeline through!
Floyd Azure said he plans to ask the Tribal Executive Board of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, which he chairs, to take legal action against the federal government over the Keystone XL pipeline.
Like the Missouri River crossing risk assessment, the scouring analysis doesn’t mention the tribes, the reservation, or the threat a pipeline spill poses to the drinking water network.
White Eagle says it takes 7 to 12 minutes for water to travel from the intake on the Missouri to the water treatment plant at the intersection of US Route 2 and Montana Highway 13 between Wolf Point and Poplar.
Sandra White Eagle, a Fort Peck tribal member and program director of the Assiniboine & Sioux Rural Water Supply System, says a leak from the Keystone XL pipeline would cut off the tribes’ drinking water.
It’s not clear why TransCanada’s recently published Missouri River safety assessments don’t mention the Fort Peck tribes’ drinking water.
According to the environmental impact statement’s “environmental consequences” section, spill impacts to the water networks and their intakes could include “the temporary loss of supply during spill response and cleanup.” The document also states the possibility of a spill reaching the tribal water networks is remote, but the explanation given is that “a distance of at least 10 miles downstream from the proposed pipeline was recommended for the identification of sensitive resources that could be affected by a release from the proposed pipeline,” and that the tribal water networks are “significantly beyond the proposed Project impact assessment buffer.” Simply put, the tribes’ water supplies are outside of the environmental impact statement’s 10-mile line, and therefore were not considered threatened, despite the fact that the EIS states in the same paragraph that a pipeline spill could shut them down.

A Correspondent Hailakandi: The people of Duttapar (Bisuram Para) under Gharmura-Bagcherra Gaon Panchayat in South Hailakandi Development Block have no access to safe drinking water even after 72 years of independence.
Located in a remote part of the district and inhabited mostly by the Reang community, the fruits of development are yet to percolate down to ground zero.
Feeling incensed by the problems confronting the community, leading citizen Shivram Reang on behalf of the residents of Bisuram Para, dashed off a letter to Deputy Commissioner Adil Khan urging him to take steps to solve the drinking water problem by sanctioning a water supply scheme.
“We are living in a very interior zone where government facility have never been implemented so far till date.
The main big problem that we are facing is that we have no pure drinking water.
Using such impure water may lead us to various critical diseases,” said Reang, urging Khan to use his good offices to sanction a water supply scheme for the inhabitants of Bisuram Para.
Following directive from Deputy Commissioner Khan, Superintending Engineer, Public Health Engineering, Nuruzzaman Choudhury assured that the department would make a survey of the area immediately and submit plan and estimate along with DPR to Dispur for sanctioning of a piped water supply scheme.
As a short term measure, Choudhury said the department would explore ways to provide drinking water facility through installation of hand pumps and ring wells.

Reportedly, in 2011 the state discovered that dry cleaning chemicals had contaminated groundwater in Haysville, Kansas.
"We didn’t find out for 7 years," Joe Hufman told the Wichita Eagle, whose well was contaminated by dry cleaner chemicals at nearly 10 times the allowed level.
KDHE knew it.
Kwik Shop knew it."
The dry cleaning chemical perchloroethylene (PCE), also known as tetrachloroethylene, was found at a level in the groundwater that is considered unsafe to drink by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says it initially gave the Haysville site a low priority, assuming the contaminated groundwater was traveling southwest — away from private wells and in a different direction than Cowskin Creek," the Eagle reported.
"It had happened at least once before, at a dry cleaning site near Central and Tyler in Wichita, where the state waited more than four years between discovering contamination nearby and notifying residents of more than 200 homes," the Eagle reported.
But the costs associated with cleaning up pollution can tally in the millions, and the state law limits liability to $5,000 for a dry cleaning shop.
"Currently, the state is dealing with contamination at 10 sites, while another five are proposed for work this year," according to the Eagle, and almost a year ago the state had 70 sites on backlog as they waited for funding, with unknown levels of contamination and whether drinking wells were effected.
Read the full report at the Wichita Eagle.

(Reuters) – Detroit authorities on Wednesday ordered drinking water shut off at all city public schools after elevated levels of lead and copper were found in water at more than a dozen buildings with antiquated plumbing systems.
FILE PHOTO: Running tap water is seen in Michigan, U.S., May 4, 2016.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo Over the weekend, supplies were cut at 16 schools and bottled water was provided until water coolers arrive, Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said.
“We have no reason to believe that any children have been harmed,” said Chrystal Wilson, a spokeswoman for the district.
Detroit public schools students are due to start classes on Tuesday, although teachers are already working.
Detroit’s drinking water comes from the Detroit River.
Water safety is a sensitive issue in Michigan, where lead contamination in the water supply of Flint prompted dozens of lawsuits and criminal charges against former government officials.
Medical research has linked lead to a stunting of children’s neural development.
Exposure to copper can cause gastrointestinal distress and liver or kidney damage, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Flint switched its water supply to the Flint River from Lake Huron in April 2014 to cut costs.

Ramon Padilla, Karl Gelles and Shannon Green, USA TODAY DETROIT — Detroit’s city school district is shutting off drinking water to all of its schools after test results found elevated levels of lead or copper in 16 of 24 schools recently tested.
In a statement Wednesday, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti of the Detroit Public Schools Community District said he had initiated water testing in all 106 school buildings in the spring to ensure the safety of students and employees.
"Although we have no evidence that there are elevated levels of copper or lead in our other schools where we are awaiting test results, out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of our students and employees I am turning off all drinking water in our schools until a deeper and broader analysis can be conducted to determine the long-term solutions for all schools," Vitti said.
► April 9: Up to 30,000 Flint kids to be screened for effects of lead in drinking water ► August 2017: 63 million Americans exposed to unsafe drinking water ► December 2016: What the EPA says it’s doing about lead in tap water Both lead and copper leach into drinking water primarily through corroded pipes and other plumbing fixtures, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The Detroit Free Presswas shadowing Vitti on a day in May when the issue of water quality in the schools came up during a cabinet meeting.
Earlier that day, Vitti had learned that test results at several schools had come back showing elevated lead levels.
The district’s building problems have been a constant source of frustration for Vitti.
Water fountains and other drinking-water sources likely will be shut off at all schools by the end of this week and certainly before the school year begins Tuesday, said Chrystal Wilson, school district spokeswoman.
► April 2016: Lawmakers target lead contamination in drinking water ► March 2016: Excessive lead levels found in 2,000 water systems across all states Detroit’s water department and the regional water and sewer agency for southeast Michigan, the Great Lakes Water Authority, also issued a statement to assure residents that the lead and copper contamination with water in the school buildings do not extend to the pipes that deliver water to customers’ homes.
This isn’t the first time the district has tested school buildings for elevated levels of lead and copper.

CITY OF ROCHESTER, Mich. (WXYZ) – The City of Rochester Department of Public Works has issued a drinking water advisory for City of Rochester residents.
Officials say a drop in pressure may have caused a bacterial contamination in the East Side water system.
Residents should not drink the water without boiling it first.
Families are encouraged to boil water for one minute and cool before using or use bottled water.
Around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Great Lakes Water Authority operators "inadvertently failed to open the bypass line prior to isolating the meter."
Officials say pressure was restored with 15-20 minutes, but precautionary measures are recommended "whenever a water system loses pressure for any significant length of time.
"The department will collect samples to figure out if the water quality meets the state drinking water standards.
Customers will be notified when the boil water advisory has been lifted, officials say.

United Nations Millions of children are going to school without basic hygiene facilities, and the goal of universal access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene remains “a huge challenge,” the United Nations has warned.
A new joint UN agency study, Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools: 2018 Global Baseline Report, says that good hygiene facilities in schools provide the basis of a healthy learning environment, and that girls are more likely to attend when they are on their period.
Moreover, children who pick up good hygiene habits at school can reinforce positive life-long behaviours in their homes and communities, said the report.
However, millions of children are going to school without basic hygiene facilities: over 30 per cent of schools worldwide do not provide safe drinking water; a third of schools do not provide the most basic of toilet facilities (such as septic tank, pit latrines or composting toilets); and nearly 900 million children go to schools with no handwashing facilities with soap and water.
The annual report is produced by the World Health Organization/UN Children’s Fund Joint Monitoring Programme, or JMP, which has been monitoring global progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene since 1990.
It looks at the progress made towards reaching the targets of two of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Goal 6(Clean water and sanitation), and Goal 4 (Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all).
Commenting on the report, Kelly Ann Naylor, Global Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at UNICEF, said that “If education is the key to helping children escape poverty, access to water and sanitation is key to helping children safely maximize their education.
To neglect this is to be careless with the well-being and health of children,” Universal access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene in schools is part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but achieving this ambitious target presents a huge challenge.
The JMP has designed tools to make it easier to track progress across countries, towards a basic level of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene service.—APP

DETROIT – Detroit public schools will start the year using bottled water in every school after tests revealed elevated lead and copper levels in the drinking water.
The Detroit Public Schools Community District conducted tests on all facets at schools.
The water coming from DWSD passed the standard, but fixtures and lines caused elevated levels at some of the schools.
Here’s what Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai P. Vitti said in a letter: I initiated water testing of all of our school buildings during the spring to ensure the safety of our students and employees.
This past week initial results were returned for 24 schools and higher than acceptable levels were identified for copper and/or lead in 16 schools at one or more water sources.
I made the decision to shut off all drinking fountains and provide bottled water and water coolers to those schools at that time because of my concerns with water quality despite the intervention.
Although we have no evidence that there are elevated levels of copper or lead in our other schools (over 50) where we are awaiting test results, out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of our students and employees, I am turning off all drinking water in our schools until a deeper and broader analysis can be conducted to determine the long-term solutions for all schools.
I have communicated this decision to the Mayor’s Office and the Mayor and his team are supportive of the decision and intend to require all city charter schools to participate in the same level of water testing as we initiated last year.
That was nearly a year after testing found 19 out of 62 buildings in the district had elevated lead and copper levels in drinking water.
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The people of Bisuram Para in Hailakandi district of Assam have no access to safe drinking water even after 72 years of independence.
Hailakandi It has been 72 years of independence, but still there are many places in the country which are yet to be developed .
Bisuram Para in Hailakandi district of Assam is one such place here people still don’t get clean water to drink.
The people of Bisuram Para under Gharmura-Bagcherra Gaon Panchayat in South Hailakandi Development Block have no access to safe drinking water even after 72 years of independence.
Located in a remote part of the district and inhabited mostly by the Reang community, the fruits of development are yet to percolate down to ground zero.
Feeling incensed by the problems confronting the community, leading citizen Shivram Reang on behalf of the residents of Bisuram Para, dashed off a letter to Deputy Commissioner Adil Khan urging him to take steps to solve the drinking water problem by sanctioning a water supply scheme.
“We are living in a very interior zone that where government facility have never (been) implemented so far till date.
The main big problem that we are facing is that we have no pure drinking water.
Using such impure water may lead us to various critical diseases,” said Reang, urging Khan to use his good offices to sanction a water supply scheme for the inhabitants of Bisuram Para.
As a short term measure, Choudhury said the department would explore ways to provide drinking water facility through installation of hand pumps and ring wells.