The drinking water in more than half of Detroit public schools has unsafe levels of copper and lead, recent testing determined.
The Detroit Public Schools Community District said Wednesday that 57 of 106 schools in the system tested positive for copper and/or lead in drinking water.
Another 17 schools are awaiting results, the Associated Press reported.
The school district initiated the testing last year to "ensure the safety of the students," the Detroit News reported.
"This (testing) was not required by federal, state or city law," the school district said.
"As you know, drinking water in these schools was discontinued as we await water test results for all schools.
Although the kitchen water has only been turned off in schools where levels were determined high, we have been using bottled water to clean food in all schools," Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told the Detroit News.
(MORE: Michigan Official to Stand Trial for Deaths in Flint Water Crisis) The results at the Detroit schools come on the heels of a lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan, located some 70 miles to the northwest.
Numerous children became ill after the city failed to properly treat corrosive river water in 2014 and 2015, allowing lead in old pipes to contaminate the water in homes and businesses.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives.

Recent drought, rainfall create brutal mosquito population boom.
Lee County is seeing the mosquito population explode.
The mosquitoes just eat you up alive," said Juliette Bruni.
"The last time we really saw these numbers was around 2011."
Shelly Redovan of Lee County Mosquito Control says the drought we had earlier this year allowed for mosquitoes to lay extra eggs.
If they grab 300 mosquitoes during that time, that’s considered bad.
Lately, she says they’ve been catching more than 1,000 at a time.
Redovan said the bulk of the mosquito explosion are pest insects, but she does warn the mosquitoes that do carry viruses are also on the rise.
Redovan said that as long as breaks in the rain continue, they will spray to bring the mosquito population down by starting with the worst areas first.
As of now, there are no cases of travel-related cases of Zika in Lee County.

Delhi to see its worst ever outbreak of chikungunya and dengue cases is a national shame.
Reports have flooded the media of a major spike in registered cases of chikungunya – 105 from January 1 to June 17, 59 cases of malaria and 50 cases of dengue in the same period, according to a Mail Today (MT) report.
In 2015, the city had reported nearly 16,000 dengue cases with 60 odd deaths and in 2016, about 500 dengue and 12,221 chikungunya cases with 20 deaths.
However, a Business Standard report has said that 146 cases of chikungunya and 87 of dengue have been reported in Delhi this year.
Nine cases of chikungunya have been reported in this month alone.
Ten dengue cases have been reported this month till June 17, while eight cases were recorded in May, according to the report by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) which tabulates such cases on behalf of all the civic bodies of the city.Six cases of dengue were reported in January, four in February, 11 in March and as many in April.” The MCD report cited by the media articles has harsh prognosis for the monsoon season, with authorities now hastening towards a quick combat plan, even as cases come to fore at an alarming rate.
With AAP’s health minister Satyendra Jain under CBI scanner, it’s the CM himself who has taken on the cudgels of conducting these meetings and working towards a cleaner Delhi.
News reports have authorities saying on record that despite deploying door-to-door domestic breeding checks, using anti-breeding techniques to discourage mosquitos from proliferating, checking water-logging in low-lying areas, potholed roads, the measures have not been enough to prevent a possible full-scale and perhaps a deadlier outbreak of all three diseases – chikungunya, dengue, malaria.
According to the report, “For malaria, which was one of the health indicators assessed, India merely scored 10 points and remained in the red.
Similarly, for hygiene, the study gave India just eight points while for PM2.5, it scored just 18 points.” Though India scored better in neglected tropical diseases, the fact that Sri Lanka has been declared “malaria-free” by World Health Organisation in 2016, must be really galling for Indian officials, who are still battling with the Anopheles mosquito-borne disease for decades now.

Andhra Pradesh chief secretary calls for measures to curb mosquito menace.
VIJAYAWADA : Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar has asked the officials to take all necessary precautionary measures to curb the spreading of Dengue, Malaria and other seasonal diseases in the monsoon.
As there is a possibility of water pollution and breeding of mosquitoes -which is the vector of most diseases- the Chief Secretary wanted officials to start fogging and desilting of drains, to control the bredding of mosquitoes.
He also asked officials to focus on maintenance of drains.
During a review meeting with officials of Medical and Health, Municipal, Panchayat Raj and Tribal Welfare departments at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi on Monday, Dinesh Kumar suggested them to organise special drives to sensitise people over the steps needed to protect them from seasonal and other communicable diseases.
He directed senior level officials to make field level inspections to monitor the ground reality with regard to the steps being taken to control seasonal diseases, rather than depending on the reports from lower officials.
He informed that those officials found neglecting their duties will invite action being taken against them.
Asking the officials to ensure supply of purified drinking water to people, the top bureaucrat suggested they conduct internal reviews from time to time to monitor the precautionary measures being taken.
Health department Principal Secretary Poonam Malakondaiah said that they have already distributed mosquito nets in tribal areas and have also kept adequate medicines in hospitals.
Tribal Welfare department Principal Secretary R P Sisodia, Director of Municipal Administration K Kannababu, Family Welfare Commission Sujatha Sharma and other officials were present.

GHS sophomore receives Intel ISEF Grand Award.
Greenwich High School (GHS) sophomore Rahul Subramaniam received first place in the Microbiology category, a $3,000 award and Best in Category, a $5,000 award, from among about 1,800 students from around the world at the 2017 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) on Friday, May 19.
Rahul Subramaniam’s project is an Early Warning System for Zika Virus in Mosquito Populations Based on Real-Time Field Detection of Viral RNA in Mosquito Saliva – Rahul created an inexpensive and consumer-friendly mosquito trap with a food-source that would change color (in ~30min) if any of the (feeding) mosquitoes were infected with Zika.
Rahul is the first known researcher in literature to detect mosquito saliva in a live trap; this enabled him to detect Zika virus in that saliva in a field trap, that can be used as the initial basis for quarantine of an area that contains Zika-infected mosquitoes, before anyone gets infected.
Luca Barceló received an Intel ISEF second place award in the Environmental Engineering category ($1500), and was awarded a $48,000 scholarship to the University of Arizona for his project — Crowd-Sourced Detection and Mapping of Nitrate Water Pollutants via a Mobile Web-Based Image Analysis System.
Shobhita Sundaram received an Intel ISEF fourth place award in the Cellular and Molecular Biology category ($500), and also received a $1000 Special Award from NSA for her project — Detection of Premalignant Pancreatic Cancer via Computational Analysis of Serum Proteomic Profiles.
The application of her algorithm for pre-diagnosis of this otherwise (often) deadly disease represents a major breakthrough for pre-testing of those with a family history or suspicion of the disease, as curative surgery in the disease’s early stages is often successful.
Four additional Greenwich High School students were awarded the opportunity to participate in the 2017 Intel ISEF to present their projects: Agustina Stefani: Carbon Capture and Storage via Silver Nanoparticle Catalyzed Hydration of Carbon Dioxide.
Connor Li: Optimization of Vertically Aligned Boron Nitride Nanotube Membranes via Magnetic Arrangement in a Lyotropic Precursor for Water Transport Applications.
Michelle Xiong: Development of a CNT/ZnO/TiO2 Membrane for Visible-Light Induced Photocatalytic Filtration of Water-Borne Organic and Bacterial Pollutants.

LEE COUNTY, Fla. – As mosquito eggs start to hatch, Buddy Logue’s business starts to buzz.
He’s been making house calls all over Lee County to help control the pesky bugs and easing some Zika concerns for mothers like Nancy Spencer.
"For the safety of my children, and my guests, and some of the pregnant moms that will be here too."
Because of the drought, this mosquito season could be a busy one.
"Has increased the area for them to lay eggs and put them," said Shelly Redovan with Lee County Mosquito Control.
Mosquito eggs can survive in dry conditions for up to eight months.
When it rains or water covers the eggs, they hatch and become adults in about a week.
"Now would be a good time to go ahead and clean those gutters out."
It’s also a good time to empty out any standing water, something Logue finds around many homes he visits.
Lee County Mosquito Control has gone through extra training this year for Zika.

The drought is over, but now L.A. is being swarmed by bugs.
Normally, the office gets about 25 phone calls a day; lately, it’s been around 80.
“They’re getting frustrated and maybe a little freaked out seeing so many insects around their home.” The majority of calls have been about two insects in particular: crane flies and fungus gnats.
Crane flies are sometimes called mosquito hawks or mosquito eaters.
The little black bugs that look like fruit flies are most likely fungus gnats, Sun said.
Though fruit flies and gnats aren’t closely related scientifically — flies are of the family Drosophilidae, gnats are Sciaridae — both are small, winged, black and irritating to find flying around your house.
Crane flies also flourish in damp conditions.
Sun said the best way to prevent fungus gnats is to make sure your yard is cleared of debris or leaves, so that the ground can dry quickly after it rains.
Both crane flies and fungus gnats are seasonal “nuisance insects,” according to Sun: They don’t spread diseases, and as we move closer to summer, you should be seeing a lot less of them.
4:45 p.m.: This article was updated with information about phone calls that the Greater L.A. County Vector Control District has received.