2 P.E.I. elementary schools forced to use bottled water

Students and staff at Somerset Elementary in Kinkora havebeen dealing with water restrictions since the middle of last week after tests found elevated coliform counts.

Studentshave been drinking only bottled water since the discoverysaid John Cummings, director of corporate services with the P.E.I. Public Schools Branch.

A new well was dug at the school earlier this springand tests at that time were good, Cummings said.

But that changed at some point.

No complaints of sickness

"The coliform counts were over the limits and what we're doing now is investigating and hopefully we'll be able to resolve the issue this summer," Cummings said.

The water is tested a minimum of four times a year. There have been no complaints of sickness from students or staff, said the director.

The school had previously tried to fix its old well, but a new one was recommended and installed at a cost of $7,000 to $8,000, Cummings said.

"We did believe the digging of a new well would resolve it, and initially it did."

Water issues at Alberton Elementary too

Officials don't yet know what could have caused the increased presence of coliform.

"I think as we do some more testing and investigate a little further, we hope in the next little bit we are able to shed more light on that, but as of today I'm not sure exactly what the cause of that would be," Cummings said.

"I think we're probably in the early stages of figuring out what the source may be."

Alberton Elementary is also dealing with coliform issues with an older well, Cummings said. An investigation is also underway there.

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