California school could finally provide clean drinking water after 70 years
WESTLEY — For the first time in over 70 years, an elementary school in Central California could have consumable water.
Grayson Elementary School in Stanislaus County was built in 1952. The school has never had suitable drinking water.
In November 2024, the district noticed corroded pipes after a pipe break inside the school.
"Back in the fall, we set out to sort of solve this drinking water problem at Grayson Elementary," said Dave Smith of the Patterson Joint Unified School District's administrative services.
That plan involved replacing all pipes inside the school that, up until that point, the district believed to be the original pipes.
However, a recent discovery showed many of the pipes were replaced in 2013.
"So our construction manager, while working with the utility company, found the drawings and then we were able to confirm that they had actually been installed," Smith said.
The pipes are underground and have not been looked at yet.
According to Smith, the water quality has been another issue for the school. The well water from the local housing authority was deemed undrinkable, but the housing authority has since announced it will create a second well with a filtration system.
That filtration system paired with the recent discovery of new pipes is providing hope that the district could soon provide drinkable water.
The housing authority had turned off the water supply to the school once a month under the one-well system.
"When they turn off the water, you know, we have to either supply a generator to our school site or bring out water to flush hoods and things like that or bring out porta potties for our students. That's what really drove us to look for a long-term solution initially," Smith said.
The district said if everything goes according to plan with hooking up the new pipe system, the school could have drinking water as soon as the upcoming school year.