Oakview Middle School students will soon be drinking water treated for arsenic.
The Lake Orion School Board approved a bid to place an arsenic treatment system at the school, located on Lake George Road, at the Feb. 8 meeting.
Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and Curriculum Dave Beiter said the school is currently operating ‘on bottled water,? until the treatment system is operational.
‘We have to do this due to a change in the federal standard,? said treasurer Mary Jo Burchart.
The U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s revised standard went into effect on Jan. 23, lowering the limit from 50 parts per billion, to 10 parts per billion.
The revised standard applies to approximately 3,000 public water systems in the state of Michigan, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
The MDEQ estimates that approximately 380 water systems, mostly small groundwater systems, are facing changes in water sources or installation of treatment equipment to meet the new standard.
Beiter said a letter had been sent out to Oakview parents informing them of the need for an arsenic treatment system at the school.
He said the system will last 10 years, which is the amount of time needed to get city water to Oakview, and that funds have already been set aside by the district to install the system.
MDEQ director Steven Chester said the new federal standard will ‘protect public health and reduce the exposure to arsenic.?