West Sacramento elementary school shuts off water fountains after quality questioned
By Maricela De La Cruz
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WEST SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — One week into the new school year at Riverbank Elementary School in West Sacramento, its water fountains have been shut off.
Riverbank, which is part of the Washington Unified School District, said it decided to shut off the fountains after several parents tested some of the water on campus and discovered some type of contaminant.
María García has two children at Riverbank elementary. She bought a water testing home kit after noticing yellow water and notified school officials on Aug. 9, one day before the first day of school.
She said that while she’s concerned, she’s also satisfied with the school district’s decision.
“I’ll wait until they do something about this and they show that all the tests are OK,” García said.
Her main concern is making sure that children are safe and healthy while they’re in school.
Giorgos Kazanis, the executive director of communications at Washington Unified, said they made this last-minute decision as school was starting.
“We essentially turned off the access to all of the water sources at that particular school campus to make sure that no one was going to accidentally go there and to any source,” he told KCRA 3.
Kazanis said the school district is working with a laboratory to test the water quality at Riverbank Elementary. School officials also notified parents and on their website added that they’re packing their classrooms with water bottles.
Kazanis said the school will determine its next step depending on the results they get back from the laboratory. This isn’t the first time that the school district has received concerns about the quality and safety of drinking water at Riverbank. In 2021, it also ran tests before determining it was safe for consumption.
As of this Wednesday, there’s still no exact date on when they’ll be back on and what action will be taken next. While some are grateful for the district’s quick action others worry how long the process will take.
The school has an estimated 700 students from K-8th grade.
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