In January 2017, five students at a middle school became ill after drinking from water fountains on school property. All five cases reporting vomiting. Symptoms started within 2-30 minutes after ingesting the water. All of the reported exposures occurred between 9:00 am and noon on January 4. Several water fountains were involved. All of the cases reported the water tasted funny.

The school was in the process of constructing an addition to the building. During the winter break, new plumbing in the addition was connected to the older plumbing and disinfected. The school did not have a routine flushing program, so no flushing occurred prior to classes resuming on January 3.

A sample collected from an unflushed drinking fountain was collected on January 5. Results showed the sample was 161,000 ug/L, well above the EPA Action Limit of 1,300 ug/L. After repeated flushing, levels returned to acceptable levels.