Beginning the week of August 29, Pattonville School District has announced it will be testing the water in each of its buildings.

This is related to results from tests conducted this summer that reveal that 30 school buildings in St. Louis Public Schools have elevated lead levels in water.

“I feel like all of the schools in the city that were affected are much older buildings than ours,” high school nurse Ms. Heidi Lanham said.

But according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report, in St. Louis, three schools with elevated lead levels — Vashon High, Clyde C. Miller Career Academy and Gateway Middle School — were built after 1990, for example. The oldest buildings, Meramec Elementary and Mann Elementary, were built in 1901

Concern began after reports of lead contamination in the water supply in Flint, Mich., and Pattonville wants to take precautionary measures and test the water.

“I’m not very worried about lead being in our water,” Lanham said.

Missouri American Water provides the district with water and regularly performs tests.

Senior Kaytlyn Richmond is curious to find out the results of the tests.

“Although they say it’s precautionary, it still makes me skeptical,” Richmond said.

In the Pattonville @ Work e-newsletter, it stated that there is no reason to be concerned about safety.

“By them doing the tests it makes me think, ‘What if there is lead in the water?” Richmond said. “What would happen then?’”

The district will be sharing the results of each test after all of the testing is completed.