The explanation came via a public statement issued by Dararat Pengpinit, Director of Darasamuth Phuket School, yesterday (Aug 31).
Ms Dararat explained that “some” students fell ill on Aug 19, suffering diarrhea and vomiting.
Samples were taken from food and drinking water available to children at the school and sent for laboratory testing.
“It turned out that Coliform bacteria was found in the water provided at nine station throughout the school,” Ms Dararat said.
“The UV steriliser equipment used for disinfection had been damaged, resulting in unsterilised water supplied to schools, causing Coliform bacteria to contaminate the water,” she explained.
Following advice and assistance from provincial public health officials. district public health officials, Wichit Municipality and the Ban Laem Chan Subdistrict Health Promoting Hospital, the situation had been rectified to prevent further incidents, Ms Dararat said.
The water quality will continue to be monitored, she added.
On behalf of the school, Ms Dararat apologised for the incident.
“The school has taken action to fix it, and make improvements in strict accordance with the advice of the public health office. The company that was in charge of the water system in the school came in and replaced the UV steriliser lamps and inspected the water system in detail.
“Equipment was added to help improve water quality according to the standards as prescribed by the public health office,” she said.