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Pittsburgh's history of lead in our water, paint, and soil continues to have enormous repercussions for the area's public health. Hidden Poison is a series on lead problems and solutions, reported by public media partners 90.5 WESA News, Allegheny Front, PublicSource, and Keystone Crossroads. Read more at our website: hiddenpoison.org.

Butler Elementary School Closed Due To Lead In Water

Sarah Schneider
/
90.5 WESA
Summit Township Elementary School in Butler, Pa., is closed Tuesday and Wednesday while the district deals with elevated levels of lead in the water.

A western Pennsylvania elementary school has been closed for two days so the district can deal with high level of lead in its water, which comes from a well.

Butler Area School District Superintendent Dale Lumley apologized to irate parents who attended a Monday meeting about the problems at Summit Elementary.

Students were given bottled water for two days earlier this school year after water tests in August found lead.

Lumley says a maintenance supervisor who was overseeing the water issue misunderstood a directive from the state Department of Environmental Protection guidelines and thought the issue had been resolved, but it wasn't.

That's why the school canceled classes Tuesday and Wednesday while the district works with the DEP, a testing company and water purification consultants to fix the problem.

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