Moore Schools shares safe water message

Testing of water at all schools occurred in Oct. 2025. On Nov. 5, 2025, the following message was communicated:

“Drinking Water provided by Moore County Public Works, which includes Moore County Public Utilities and East Moore Water District, currently meets all testing and water quality requirements.  Proactively, the County of Moore has begun taking steps in testing and for bringing PFAS and PFOS Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL) below the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) established 2029 threshold levels.  In an effort to be proactive, Moore County Health Department tested all Moore County Schools and Moore County Schools sites.  Seven schools were identified as being above the 2029 EPA established threshold levels.  Those schools are Pinehurst Elementary, West End Elementary, Vass-Lakeview Elementary, Sandhills Farm Life Elementary, Crain’s Creek Middle, Highfalls Elementary and Cameron Elementary.

In partnership with the County of Moore, schools with levels above the future 2029 threshold will be using bottled water in place of fountains and will have bottled water provided for cafeteria food prep until permanent filtering can be installed. This water has been ordered and will be put in place in the coming days.  Once in place, we encourage you to send a refillable water bottle with your child to school.  Again, while all water meets current standards, MCS is appreciative of the County of Moore’s efforts to be proactive and be ahead of the mandated 2029 timeline for mitigation.”

The district has continued to work collaboratively with the County to move toward a long-term solution for each school. MCS Maintenance and the Moore County Health Department, working together, identified filters that remove PFAS and PFOS. These filters were installed for testing at several sites. Test results indicate the filters are working as intended, and MCS Maintenance is now moving forward with installing these filters on every fountain and bottle filler at all seven schools. Schools will reopen water fountains and bottle fillers once filter installation is complete at each campus.

Feb. 11, 2026

Provided.

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