The wells at the school, which opened in 2000 has an enrollment of about 600, must be filtered to prevent contamination from a gasoline additive that has been detected in the ground.
“The good news is that there has not been one breach of the filter,” said Councilman James V. McMahan. But that is hardly a permanent solution, said parents, who want to close those wells and connect the building to a nearby public water line.
Faced with an additional 10 years of filtering an elementary school’s water supply, parents are renewing efforts to connect the building into the public system that runs nearby. The reason for such a decision comes from the fact that school well contamination could last 10 years.
This was confirmed by the officials at Maryland Department of the Environment in a meeting last week with parents and with the Harford County Council.
Trace amounts of MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) were found in the two private wells at the school in 2005. Testing has shown continued MTBE contamination of the well water. Current levels of the additive, which has been nearly eliminated from gasoline supplies throughout the state, are nearly 200 to 300 parts per billion around the wells, above the amount considered safe by federal standards.
“We hope to see MTBE levels at the school go down, but it will be an estimated 10 years that we will have to keep filters in place,” said Herbert M. Meade, administrator of MDE’s oil control program.
The duration to bring the MTBE levels down has prompted parents to switch to other alternatives as children’s lives are precious.
