A student walks in the hallway past a water fountain at Noble School in Detroit, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. Some 50,000 Detroit public school students started the school year by drinking water from coolers, not fountains, after the discovery of elevated levels of lead or copper.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

At a Glance

Fifty-seven of 106 schools in the city's public school district tested positive for copper and/or lead in drinking water.Another 17 schools are awaiting results.

The drinking waterin more than half of Detroit public schools has unsafe levels of copper and lead, recent testing determined.

The DetroitPublic Schools Community District said Wednesday that 57of 106 schools in the system tested positive for copper and/or lead in drinking water. Another 17 schools are awaiting results, the Associated Press reported.

The school district initiated the testing last year to"," the Detroit News reported.

"This (testing) was not required by federal, stateor city law," the school district said. "This testing, unlike the previous testing in 2016, evaluated all water sources from sinks to drinking fountains."

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Initial results came back for 24 schools last month, promptingofficials to turn off waterfountains in all 106 school buildings and require kitchen staff to cook food with bottled water at a cost of $200,000.

"As you know, drinking water in these schools was discontinued as we await water test results for all schools. Although the kitchen water has only been turned off in schools where levels were determined high, we have been using bottled water to clean food in all schools," Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told the Detroit News.

In August, Vitti saidthe district has consideredinstalling a water station system at every school, which would cost an estimated $2 million.

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The results at the Detroit schools come on the heels of a lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan, located some 70 miles to the northwest. Numerous children became ill after the city failed to properly treat corrosive river water in 2014 and 2015, allowing lead in old pipes to contaminate the water in homes and businesses.