New info sheds light on incident that left 5 Middle Creek HS football players feeling sick

Wake County Public Schools and two contractors hired to perform work at Middle Creek High School provided new information on Friday about an incident earlier this week in which a handful of football players complained of feeling ill after drinking from a water hose during practice.

Lisa Luten, a spokeswoman for Wake County Public Schools, said the five students did not require medical attention after the incident, which occurred the evening of Oct. 1 at the Apex school.

One of students told WRAL News that the the water tasted like paint had been added to it after they drank it from a water hose near their practice site.

Luten told WRAL News that a subcontractor for RDU Paving, identified as Advantage Sports, Inc., was performing work at the school when the company's subcontractor attached a hose to the school’s water hose, which was attached to the school’s water supply.

In a statement to WRAL News, RDU Paving gave a different explanation, stating, "Advantage Sports, Inc., a subcontractor of RDU Paving, Inc. was working onsite at Middle Creek High School on Tuesday, October 1, 2019, and had its hose connected to a yard hydrant. We understand that a school staffer responsible for the drinking water for the Middle Creek High School athletes inadvertently used the subcontractor’s water hose to fill the hydration tanks."

Wake County Public Schools issued a written statement of its own: "RDU Paving's subcontractor attached a hose to the school’s water hose, which was attached to the school’s water supply. They used that hose to fill a container containing chemicals. The chemicals appear to have backfilled from the container into the subcontractor's hose. The subcontractor then left the contaminated hose attached to the school’s hose, which was still attached to the school’s water supply. It's our understanding that the hose was then inadvertently used by someone other than the subcontractor to fill a tank of drinking water used by students.”

The school sent a letter home to parents, advising them of what happened, and district officials said they responded appropriately to the incident.