Student Blows Whistle On 'Urine Water,' Gets Suspended

A student from a Detroit suburb drew attention to potential water contamination at her high school this month. Instead of commending her blowing the whistle, administrators promptly suspended her.

The water coming from a bathroom faucet at John Glenn High School “looked like urine,” according to CNN. Student Hazel Juco snapped a photo of the water and posted it on Facebook and Twitter. Administrators told her this action violated the school’s rule against using cell phones in bathrooms.

“Parents and students were outraged. They thought the school ought to be more concerned about the water than the phone rule,” the report said.

So, what’s going on with the water at John Glenn High School?

"We had a pipe that reached the faucet that was corroding and needs to be replaced and that's underway right now,” Wayne-Westland Community Schools Superintendent Michele Harmala said, per CNN.

Some utilities provide consumers with literature on how to diagnose the problem when their water is a strange color. A manual on common water quality problems, produced by the city of Corpus Christi, TX, says the color of water from the faucet is often an indicator of what the problem may be.

Major causes of brown, red, orange, or yellow water include rusty water pipes in the building, the guide tells ratepayers. “If your water is being discolored by old, rusty pipes, the only permanent solution is to replace them. Replacing only some of the pipes can improve the problem, or it can actually make it worse,” the guide said.

“If some of the old steel pipes are replaced with new copper pipes and the two different metals are connected directly together, the copper can cause the steel to rust even more than before the replacement. This process can be stopped with the use of a proper dielectric coupling between the two dissimilar pipes. Consult an experienced plumber. Water that is being discolored by rusty pipes is not a health hazard; however, it is an indication that the pipes are corroding and they can eventually begin leaking,” it continued.

At John Glenn High School, it turns out the school had not addressed the problem until Juco took action. After Juco posted the photo, officials called for a plumber to fix the problem.

The suspension was expunged from Juco’s record. Harmala added that administrators had “inappropriately” punished Juco, Fusion reported.

Juco noted that she felt she was singled out.

“Every girl takes selfies in the bathroom and makes it their profile pictures,” she told WXYZ. “No one has gotten in trouble.”

The incident galvanized students at the school to support Juco.

“Dozens of students protested by tweeting bathroom pictures they took at school without getting in trouble. Someone who saw the original tweet contacted [the media],” WXYZ reported.

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