High levels of lead forced six schools in the Jersey City School District to shut down water faucets and drinking fountains.

According to Jersey City School Superintendent Charles Epps, the water at P.S. 6, 11, 23, 25, 27 and 31 isn?t safe to drink. Epps sent home a letter to parents in those schools letting them know that high levels of lead were detected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Another letter was sent to faculty on Thursday about the situation.

The EPA first detected high levels of lead in the water in August of 2006. Jersey City Public Schools were notified a month later. The EPA wrote Epps a letter that 46 of the 158 faucets or fountains sampled had results with lead concentrations. A second round of testing by the district confirmed the findings.

The district is asking parents to send their children to school with bottled water for the time being.

Meanwhile, city officials believe the situation is isolated to the affected schools. However, as a precaution, the Jersey City mayor asked the water supplier, United Water, to conduct a survey of the city water supply for lead.