COUNCIL bosses have moved to reassure staff at two schools affected by contaminated water.

In December last year water in St Ambrose High School and Buchanan High School were found to have copper in the tap water.

Water in both schools, new build secondaries that opened in Coatbridge in 2012, was running blue.

Staff and pupils were warned not to drink the water and North Lanarkshire Council bosses are considering whether or not to replace copper pipes with plastic pipes.

Council staff met with school staff on Tuesday.

A spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council said: “We held a meeting with staff at both schools on Tuesday, January 15 to update them on the progress we are making in tackling instances of ‘blue water’ at the St Ambrose/Buchanan High Schools campus in Coatbridge.

“This copper solution is caused due to corrosion in the pipework; this has minimal impact on the quality of the water, but can appear alarming.

“To date we have replaced filters, are flushing the system twice a day which helps prevent a build-up of copper solution in the taps concerned and we are in the process of replacing all the copper pipework with plastic pipes.

“We will continue to keep staff and parents updated throughout.”

The new campus was built on a former landfill site used by Gartsherrie Ironworks for industrial waste including chemicals and hazardous substances such as arsenic, nickel, and lead.

Concerns were raised in 2011 when the school was under construction but council chiefs have always insisted the site is safe.

Environmental organisation SEPA, as told at the time by the Evening Times, also raised no objections to the location.