Sutton School Unfazed by Unsafe Water

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Created on Friday, 10 May 2013 14:04

Written by Joseph Peters

SUTTON - When select board members first realized that Sutton's water had unacceptably high nitrate levels, they made sure to inform the public quickly. Now, tap water is only to be used for laundry and cleaning, and it definitely should not be used for drinking or cooking. For the Sutton school, that could've posed a major problem. Yet, somewhat surprisingly, that problem never materialized.

"It's unfortunate," said principal Roberta Stradling, "but it's seamless."

The school now relies on five gallon jugs of water, rather than using tap water. The impact has been felt in several corners of the school. Water fountains, for example, have been decommissioned. They've been replaced by the jugs. In the cafeteria, the changes are a bit more drastic. Chefs empty the large jugs into pots to boil spaghetti, and they use the same bottled water to soak vegetables.

"It's just mostly the vegetables and the fruit," said Talisa Giorgia, the head chef at the school, who guessed that the cafeteria staff goes through between ten and fifteen jugs of water per week. "I think Wednesdays is the bigger day that I use more water... most of the time it's spaghetti on Wednesdays."

Stradling estimated that the school is spending $200 a month on the bottled water, about six times what they'd be paying for tap water. She's expecting the tap water to become safe by next fall. This isn't her first time dealing with hazardous water. In her previous job, as principal of Vermont's Windham School, she faced a similar situation.

"You don't even have the idea to use bottled water," Stradling said. "You think, 'Oh, no, I'm gonna have to close the school.' No. There's ways to handle everything."