CEDAR LAKE | Crown Point Community Schools Corp. officials are working with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the town of Cedar Lake to remedy higher than acceptable levels of arsenic in drinking water at MacArthur Elementary School.

Students drank bottled water provided by the district last week rather than the school's well water owing to the unacceptable levels of arsenic, Matt Ruess, the district's chief financial officer, said.

MacArthur Principal Marian Bucko said she would welcome an alternative to the well water, which is not that palatable anyway.

"To have improved water would be great." Steven Polston, public information officer for IDEM, said last week. "Today, we're satisfied that they're working towards a solution."

At the same time, however, Polston said, "We want to come to agreement with the school corporation with a legal document."

That would be an agreed order that would spell out the deadline for compliance, he said.

Although the federal limitations on arsenic in drinking water were made stricter in 2001 with a compliance date of Jan. 23, 2006, Polston said he knows of no official extension granted the school district by IDEM.

The 2006 deadline is the reason MacArthur parent Allison Bricker is upset. She went on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Web site and learned the dangers of arsenic intake over time, so she was alarmed that, up until Oct. 1, students and staff still were drinking from the school's fountains. Signs to be posted at the fountains stating information on the high levels of arsenic were not posted, she said.

Since the beginning of September, when Bricker and a friend learned of the drinking water's arsenic levels, they have been sending their boys to school with bottled water.

Bricker said she understands that the changed federal limits put the school in noncompliance and that solutions cannot be found overnight. She said, however, that other school systems such as Tri-Creek were in the same situation and were in compliance by last year's deadline.

Ruess said the administration had hoped to purchase water from the private Robin's Nest Water Co., but ran into a snag when Cedar Lake officials did not approve the desired water line route.

Now, Ruess said, "Cedar Lake is working with us to provide a long-term solution with municipal water in lieu of well water."

He said IDEM knows the problem is being addressed and has allowed time for that.

Earlier this year, Cedar Lake Town Attorney David Austgen said a number of private utilities ring the community and could be used to provide municipal water not now available.

Ruess said the school system also has the option of installing an arsenic filtration system on the existing well.