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040403 Water Fountains turned off at PRES again
By DON HEPPNER
For the second time in less than a year and a half, students at Pound Ridge Elementary School are drinking bottled water due to concerns about high levels of chloride and sodium.
The school turned off the water fountains two weeks ago and set up water coolers. The move to bottled water was made even though school officials stressed that water from the school's well is not health-threatening at this time.
"We are going to bottled water voluntarily," said Mark Betz, assistant superintendent for the
Bedford Central School District, "The water is not yet at levels we need to he worried about, but we are taking precautions in case the levels of chloride and sodium rise, If we are erring, we are erring on the side of caution,"
The school district had hoped the school's water-quality problems were resolved, Last year, after discovering a similar contamination problem, the district spent $10,000 to dig the school's well deeper.
The water in the school's well is tested periodically. and the latest test indicated the deeper well was not the solution school officials hoped.
Mr, Betz said that the school district explored solution,, such as high-tech filters, but the most practical solution, in terms of cost and effectiveness, is to dig a new well and ahandon the existing one.
"We expect the cost for digging a new well to he around $10,000 to $12,000," Mr, Betz said,
In addition to the expense of digging a new well, the school district is saddled with the expenses incurred in the purchase of bottled water.
Tom Briggs, the district's director of buildings and grounds, did not return phone calls inquiring how much the bottled water is costing the district.
"Our youngsters are quite excited about the bottled water," said Eric Byrne, the school's principal, "They seem to enjoy using it more than the fountain."
A note sent home with the students last week explained the water was safe to use for washing, but it noted that all the fountains in the school had been shut off,
According to Mr. Betz, chloride levels at the school were 300 milligrams per liter, and sodium levels were at 100 milligrams per liter at the time of the last test conducted by the Westchester County Health Department, which was several months ago. The district received the test results two weeks ago,
The chloride levels are above safe drinking standards, Sodium levels fall within safe drinking levels,
Mary Landrigan, spokesperson for the Westchester County Health Department, said, "If you have over 270 milligrams of sodium per liter in a public water supply, a public notice has to go out, and at that level people who have some restrictions on sodium in their diet would be wise not to drink that water and that would be a part of the public notification.
"People with severe sodium restrictions in their diet should not drink water that has more than 20 milligrams of sodium per liter," she added.
Peter D'Agostino, a Pound Ridge resident and parent to a PRES student, is convinced the contaminated well at the school was caused by road salt applied by the town during snowstorms. He himself plans to sue the town for allegedly polluting his well on Major Lockwood Road.
The town has not acknowledged its road maintenance practices have led to the contamination of any wells. The district itself has not blamed the town, Mr, Betz said the source of contamination at the school's well can't be proven,
Mr, D'Agostino is forming a group of concerned parents to address the issue of the school's contaminated well,
"I have several parents that are concerned about the school's well, and they are also concerned about the amount of salt put on the road," Mr, D'Agostino said, He started to form a group of concerned parents last week and reports eight families have expressed concerns about the water in town.
Joy Simpkins, Pound Ridge town supervisor, said the town is doing what it can to control the use of salt on the roads.
"We are in the process of looking into an automated machine that would fit on the back of trucks and dispense the correct amount of salt automatically," she said.
Mrs, Simpkins explained that the town's trucks tend to leave more snow on the road at severe turns and at the end of cul de sacs, The town hopes to correct that occurrence with new equipment that will even the application of salt on curvy roads and dead ends.
Mr, D'Agostino's house is located at the end of a cul de sac.
"I feel terrible that the school has to buy bottled water," Mrs. Simpkins said, She also said the town has an obligation to keep the roads safe during periods of snow and ice.