The Associated Press reported Saturday the Round Prairie school about 17 miles from Williston continues to be the only one of 10 public schools in the state with well water that exceeds federal standards for selenium.
Round Prairie was first documented with the high selenium levels in June 2007, said superintendent Greg McNary. Since then, the school uses bottled water for drinking and cooking purposes, McNary said.
“The Culligan folks deliver out there on a regular basis. We require the kids to drink that water,” he said. “All of the cooking is done with bottled water. The kids, however, do wash their hands in the well water after using the bathroom and things like that.“
McNary said water samples are taken from the school each quarter for selenium totals to be measured and documented. The district also is required to publish information to inform the public about the water issue, he added. The attempt to get connected to a rural water supply to serve the school has included measuring the volume of water used at the district’s Garden Valley Elementary School, McNary said.
“The number of students at Round Prairie is about twice that of Garden Valley last year,” McNary said of trying to establish how much water may be needed at Round Prairie. “Now they have about three times as many I would say.”
McNary said the Round Prairie school has about 70 students this year.
The water usage data and other information has been forwarded to a Bismarck engineer for analysis, McNary said.
He would like to visit with district patrons from that part of the county to see what their interest is in hooking to rural water and then see what the cost might be.
“What we would use then is use all rural water for the (school) plumbing out there and use the well for the irrigation of the grass and flowers and things like that,” McNary said.
Larry Thelen, administrator of the state Health Department’s drinking water program, told the AP that selenium occurs naturally in the soil.
At high levels, selenium has been linked to hair loss, numbness in fingers and toes and potential circulatory problems, he said.
Thelen told the AP that some schools have flushed their water systems, treated their water or hooked into larger water systems to remedy the problem.
Nationally, an Associated Press analysis of federal data found that roughly one of every five schools with its own water supply violated the federal Safe Drinking Water Act in the past decade.
The AP reports contaminants have been found in drinking fountains and school pipes in all 50 states.
Nationally, schools in large cities that get water from public utilities have shown contamination, not just schools with wells.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., says lawmakers will hold hearings on the issue.
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