CHULUOTA -- A new solution to an old water problem could save a Seminole County elementary school thousands of dollars.
The school district original planned to spend $36,000 a year to supply each student at Joan Walker Elementary with one bottle of water after parents complained the school’s tap water was sometimes foul-smelling.
Recent tests showed the tap water met safety standards, but the district moved forward with plans to buy the bottled water anyway, until receiving a generous donation from a Seminole County graduate.
Tim Randolph and his company, RainSoft, donated $20,000 worth of his water filters.
Randolph, a graduate of Lake Brantley High School, said he wanted to give back to the school system that helped him so much.
“We’re happy to have the water filters in, eliminating the THM, which is a negative factor in the water for children,” said Walker Elementary Principal Cathy Phillips.
THM -- or trihalomethanes -- are a by-product formed when chlorine is used to disinfect drinking water.
Workers spent the week before school started installing the filters, so every water resource would be ready for the first day of school.
“It doesn’t cost the taxpayers of Seminole County anything, and the $36,000 will go back into the general operating budget and back to the schools,” Phillips said. “So it’s a win all around, and we want to say thank you to RainSoft and Mr. Randolph.”
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