Students at Plymouth School will not move to the former Arcadia School.
A motion calling for the move was defeated at last night’s Tri-County Regional School Board meeting.
The option was being examined due to unsafe drinking water at Plymouth.
The school has been using bottled water since September due to higher than normal levels of arsenic in the water.
A move to Arcadia may have proved difficult, as the school is occupied by some medical offices due to the flood at Yarmouth Regional Hospital.
Interim board Superintendent Dr. Jim Gunn says there was lots of debate on the potential move.
He says bottled water is a safe short term solution.
“The new equipment was installed over the holidays. The water was running through the new system, and tests are being done weekly. We’re not going to stop the bottled water until we know that drinking water in the school is safe. We’re going to get that fixed as soon as we can. “
Dr. Gunn says they are doing all they can to restore the water quality to where it should be.
“After checking with Environment Nova Scotia and the public health officer of our province, which is my responsibility to do, I am sure that bottled water is a safe temporary solution, therefore we want to get to a better long term solution.”
According to environment guidelines, 0.01 milligrams of arsenic per litre is an acceptable level, and Plymouth’s September reading was 0.035 milligrams per litre.
