It has been an often-asked question amongst students in Williamsburg Preparatory High School: is our school drinking water safe?

Some students are cautious of the water from our water fountains and water from our lunchroom.

After an experiment conducted by WP News, we found that the water might as be as pure as we want, but it is certainly safe to drink. Our study found that the water fountains from the third and fourth floor both hold a hardness of around 250-425 GH.

The hardness of water is determined by the milligrams of calcium carbonate per liter and is reported in parts-per-million (ppm).

According to The National Library Of Medicine, “Hard water has no known adverse health effect.”

The third floor fountain test found that it has about 20 TAL (Total Alkalinity), which, if it gets to the high (one hundred), could cause your skin to be dry and itchy, as well as sometimes having the ability to cause an upset stomach. Regardless, it is harmless if it stays in the low numbers of TAL, according to Livestrong.com.

One of WPs chemistry teachers, Mr. Burkheart had this to say about ammonia found in the water. He said, “it’s a common chemical found in cleaning supplies in higher concentrations, but in low doses it’s pretty normal.”

Students were asked about how they feel on our school’s water. Emily Prittipal, a senior, was quoted saying, “apparently New York has the cleanest water, but, me personally, I do not drink the school water because sometimes it looks bad.”

Another WP senior Briana Acuna said, “I’m a little nervous drinking the school water. It’s a little worrying, but when I’m tired and dehydrated, the water tastes good”

The information found on the tests performed can conclude that the water from our school fountains is not bad in the sense that they can do harm to an individual, rather they are just bad when it comes to taste. This could be because of the hardness in the water, but, regardless tests prove that our schools water is not harmful to the students of WP.