Kuhn said a pressure switch, which is operated by a computer chip, failed, which resulted in a break in the service line. When water pressure builds up in the system, it reaches a point where the switch is supposed to tell the water pump to stop pumping, but it kept pumping and put too much pressure in the system, which caused the break in the line to happen.
As of Thursday afternoon, the repair was complete and middle and high school students will be back in session Friday, operating on their normal schedule.
However, the building will still be under a boil advisory until a second round of testing is done. Kuhn said first-round results originally came back all clear on Wednesday. Potable water is available through water coolers placed throughout the building, and students are encouraged to bring a water bottle with them to school.
High school students who attend Springfield-Clark Career Technology Center (CTC) and resident students who attend the Global Impact STEM Academy were picked up as close to their normal times as possible Thursday morning.
Clark-Shawnee Elementary students operated on a normal schedule.
This issue is not related to the one from the other week as that was connected to the old water system, Kuhn said.
The extreme winter temperatures Christmas weekend caused a critical component in the old water system to fail, which resulted in depressurization that could potentially cause the water inside the system to become contaminated.
Because of that, the district issued a boil advisory, with signs posted at all sinks and all drinking fountains were bagged.
Kuhn said when the district completed the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) renovation project on the Clark-Shawnee middle and high school building in 2020, the existing water treatment system was not called out for replacement but they still decided to replace it with a new one.
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