Detroit public schools students beginning the new US school year this week are taking sips from water coolers instead of water fountains, after tests found high lead levels in fixtures at some schools.

"We're still providing water that we believe is safer, and, ultimately, we actually believe students will drink more water than they did previously," said Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.  "But this is about teaching and learning, not a conversation about water.  It's an injustice that children and parents have to think about quality water, but we did the overall testing to be transparent and be proactive."

Last week's tests evaluated all water sources, from sinks to fountains, in 16 schools.  The results showed higher than acceptable levels of lead and copper last month, the Detroit public schools community district announced it was turning off the water at all its schools.  Water issues were previously detected in fixtures at 18 more schools.

The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) and the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) blamed the neglected infrastructure of the chronically-underfunded schools and said the water was clean going in.  But school officials pass that blame to the Republican state government, which stripped control of much of Detroit's services away from the democratically-elected local government in favor of an appointed "emergency manager".

'After 10 years of emergency management, there is a lot of work to be done, across, let's say, 90 percent of our school buildings to get ceiling tiles, basic heating and cooling," said school board member Misha Stallworth, who is looking beyond state or local taxes to fund repairs to the poisonous water systems.  "That's a big challenge that we're faced with in terms of trying to identify opportunities for the state to support us or the private sector to offer their support."