HARRISON — Students at the Harrison Elementary School may soon be cleared to drink tap water after test results on the school's well showed no traces of coliform bacteria.

"They all came back negative," said Oxford Hills School District Facilities Manager Dave Marshall on Wednesday. "We're really pleased about that."

Students at the school have been drinking bottled water as a precaution since the start of school after coliform bacteria was found in four of five water samples tested Aug. 24.

Marshall said he is now waiting for the Maine Drinking Water Program officials, who have been sent copies of the most recent test results, to give him their recommendations. Most likely, they will recommend a more frequent testing schedule for the well water, he said.

Although the school could go back to drinking the well water and always had that option, Marshall said he preferred to hear from state officials first. "I want them involved," he said.

The state did not require a "boil water" or "do not drink" order, but school officials decided to bring in bottled water, donated by Poland Spring, as a precaution.

Marshall said the company donated five pallets of water. The five pallets equal 72 cases and company officials say there are dozens of bottles per case.

"It's been just wonderful," Marshall said of the donated bottled water from Poland Spring Co.

At the end of September, two of three tests on the school well came back positive for coliform bacteria. Subsequent testing also revealed some negative results. The state requires five negative tests for the water to be considered contaminant-free, according to Marshall.

Harrison is one of four schools in the Oxford Hills School District that is on well water. The other three are Otisfield, Waterford and Hebron elementary schools, Marshall said.

He said earlier that he believes the coliform bacteria contaminant has to do with the source — the water in the well — and not an outside factor such as a crack in the well casing that might have allowed contaminants to leach in through the ground.

Whenever coliform is present in the water, a subsequent analysis is done to see if E. coli is present. The presence of E. coli indicates the presence of fecal matter in the water. That was not the case in Harrison.

ldixon@sunjournal.com