More than 500 students arrived at a Southeast elementary school Monday morning without any drinking water as all of the building’s fountains shrouded in trash bags after school officials discovered high lead levels, officials said.

Six new drinking fountains at Watkins Elementary School, at 12th and G streets SE, showed abnormally high concentrations of lead, a top school official said.

Schools advocate Marc Borbely, founder of FixOurSchools.net, said there is no excuse for the fountains to be inoperable on the first day of school.

“They have had all summer to identify the problems and have it fixed,” said Borbely, who is also a D.C. School Board candidate.

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Dave Anderson, a DCPS facilities manager, said new filters were installed and that water quality tests were being performed and expected results by late Monday evening, Borbely said. The results were not available as of press time, officials said.

One employee at the school, who asked that her name not be used, said officials believe it may be lead that had settled in the pipes after a long summer of inactivity.

D.C. Water and Sewer Authority spokeswoman Michele Quander-Collins said the agency did not test the fountains or request the shutdown and would not speculate what may have caused the problem.

In the meantime, school officials were expected to bring in bottled water for the students today as temperatures are again expected to reach 90 degrees.

mrupert@dcexaminer.com