The Camp Verde Unified School District Board has approved an agreement with the Camp Verde Water Company to provide a new connection to school buildings.
The agreement must now be approved by the water company before it can be finalized.
The new two-mile water line became a pressing issue when the Environmental Protection Agency raised its standards on the acceptable levels of arsenic in drinking water.
The school buildings off Camp Lincoln Road were fed by a well that suddenly found itself in violation of federal arsenic rules, like many in the western U.S.
The school district had been operating on its current well under a special allowance from the EPA while the district tried to figure out who had to pay for the new line.
The Arizona Attorney General ruled that the school district was responsible for the bill. The school board plans to pay for the new line over the course of two fiscal years to help spread out expenses.
The water company had also agreed to shoulder some of the costs of hooking the school district up to the new line.
The Arizona School Facilities Board will still pay the more than $250,000 needed to prepare the school campuses for hooking on to the new line, said Superintendent Jeff Van Handel.
The district will also have control of a meter in the line near the Camp Verde library.
The school district will maintain its current well for irrigation and firefighting purposes.
In other business, Van Handel informed the board that the district was another step closer to opening three charter school programs. The district wants to possibly open three new programs: a language immersion program for elementary students; a college prep program at South Verde High School; and an International Baccalaureate-type school.
The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools approved the applications as being administratively complete. The merits of each application will now go on for further review with a decision expected around the beginning of November.
Mark Lineberger can be reached at 567-3341, or e-mail CVEditor@larsonnewspapers.com
