Warning: Tap Water problem Northampton

[Richard Mason]

Originally Posted by Jay_Benson

Gosh you are a card aren't you. The kitchens closed years ago.

How do they manage to produce school meals then? Or is it all brought in in hot boxes by outside caterers? Just asking.

[Steve Summers]

Originally Posted by Richard Mason

Or is it all brought in in hot boxes by outside caterers? Just asking.

Mostly in primary and junior schools round here.

Safe diving,
Steve

[Scubee]

As a parent, i think iw ould be happier if the school was closed, and i could watch what the little bu88er drank, rather than hoping the school had the facilities to ensure their safety.

Knowing the attitude of some children, they wouldn't understand the severity of the situation and would dring the water out of the toilet sink taps just to see if it made them sick.

(of course, it would only be boys that did that - girls are far too sensible )

[Richard Mason]

Originally Posted by SoggyFox

wonder why the treatment plants missed it, under investment in infrastructure i wonder?

ps schools routinely close on any interuption to the supply of mains water.

Some good information on Crypto and water treatment here from Qld Health Dept. It's interesting that the Aus Drinking Water Guidelines don't recommend routine monitoring for either Crypto or Giardia, simply because if you find them, it'sd hard to draw any firm conclusions on risk.

Since the Sydney debacle, public health authorities over here have tended to concentrate on ensuring optimal water treatment and only looking for them in the water on the basis of epidimeology evidence - ie otherwise unexplained outbreaks of the illness.

It's interesting to note that I worked for over 10 years here in rural areas, where small country towns relied on untreated or barely treated supplies derived from bushland creeks, impacted by agricultural runoff and wildlife like you wouldn't believe, yet I think during all of that time, I only received and investigated maybe half a dozen Crypto/Giardia cases and try as I might, I couldn't find any assoiciation with drinking water. This was despite my repeatedly promulgated warnings to residents to boil water on an on-going basis - I know that this was completely ignored but at least it covered my ar5e.

These were mainly small towns of less than 1000 people and the people there had been drinking this stuff for generations - you can't take the risk of extrapolating this to the context of a big UK urban population - the probability that it's patogenic may be low but the consequences of it being infective are too serious to go taking any risks with it, so don't get me wrong, I'm not casting any aspersions on what's happening over there.

[dry suit diver]

Originally Posted by Steve S

Mostly in primary and junior schools round here.

Safe diving,
Steve

even in the sprawling metropolis primary schools don't all have kitchens.

we are currently raising funds for an extension to the school that will improve the catering facilities past that of a serving hatch and space for the heated trolleys.

[Richard Mason]

Originally Posted by Scubee

i could watch what the little bu88er drank

Is that really bu88er, or did you actually mean to say "bu99er"?

[Jay_Benson]

Originally Posted by Richard Mason

How do they manage to produce school meals then? Or is it all brought in in hot boxes by outside caterers? Just asking.

As Steve has said they are mostly brought in from a central kitchen. Yummy warm soup and warm ice cream.

Our local infant / junior school has just been given the go ahead to get a new school hall built - one of the big sales pitches for the hall was that it included kitchens so that the children can have hot meals cooked on site. Heck we may even have locally grown food as well.

[SoggyFox]

Originally Posted by Jay_Benson

Our local infant / junior school has just been given the go ahead to get a new school hall built - one of the big sales pitches for the hall was that it included kitchens so that the children can have hot meals cooked on site. Heck we may even have locally grown food as well.

then when they have the funding the design specs change and theres suddenly no kitchen...

[dry suit diver]

Originally Posted by SoggyFox

then when they have the funding the design specs change and theres suddenly no kitchen...

funding will be dependent on the design, governors nearly always have final say on the plans and funding allocation.

thats how we managed to get a design for the current project that can be used in the next stages of the school improvement plan without spunking the budget on architects fees, the sticking point was the LA planning dept who told us one thing and meant another.

should be oooh late 2010 by the time the 1st stage is complete. so only 2 years to go till kids can eat properly again .

Jamie Oliver picked his schools well for his docusoap, lithpy twot should come to our school and try and cook a healthy meal at the moment.

LEA also just put prices up again, not realising that as governors we have the figures on what they spend per pupil.