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Water at Fannin Elementary is safe... except for one drinking fountain

MISD tells us they are now working to have a regular water testing schedule and to install RO systems in schools that don't have them already.

MIDLAND, Texas — Official results from the MISD ordered water test shows there's nothing wrong with the water at Fannin Elementary. 

That was confirmed by the city last week. 

However, on January 18 we learned one drinking fountain did raise concerns. 

A fountain in the teacher's lounge. 

Eleven locations inside the school were tested. 

It was the water faucet in the teacher's lounge that had slightly higher levels of arsenic than the standard. 

That fountain is now being replaced.

The district is also working to replace a water pump and water heater.

"As soon as we saw those results that were presented to us from the concerned community members we knew that immediately we needed to go and get more information, work with the city, work with experts who are certified in looking for these harmful compounds so that we could be sure what was in our water system. That was the right thing to do and it was important to do," MISD Communications Director Elana Ladd said. 

The district is now working to have a regular schedule for testing and to install RO systems in schools that don't have them already. 

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What happened the week of February 10:

Parents hired a private company to test the water at Fannin Elementary and those results claim there are high levels of iron, lead, and arsenic.

Parents are worried about the water at Fannin Elementary.

The City told us that parents hired a private company to test the water at school.

That test claims there are high levels of iron, lead, and arsenic.

The City of Midland found out some of the water samples taken on January 23 from Fannin Elementary came back with abnormal results.

Craig Craigo, Utilities Director for the City of Midland, said they decided to do testing of their own and think that it could be a centralized problem or something mechanically failed inside the school.

MISD is also doing their own individual testing. As of Friday they have not revealed these results.

There is concern over how the original sample was taken because Craigo doesn't know where it was taken or how it was handled.

Craigo does reiterate that the City of Midland's water supply safe to drink.

The City of Midland received test results back on Feb. 13.

The city says its results came back below the reporting limits approved by the EPA. Both arsenic and lead were "non-detects".

The iron also is below the secondary contamination limit of 0.3 mg/l.

Therefore the tested water meets all drinking standards set by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

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