City tests chem level in Brooklyn building
The city sent investigators to a Brooklyn housing development Friday after the Daily News revealed several apartments recently registered high levels of chemicals in their indoor air.
In the last three months, an environmental consultant working for NYCHA found consistent levels of potentially toxic chemicals far above the maximum threshold set by the federal government inside five apartments at Saratoga Village in Brownsville.
Records show petroleum and dry cleaning chemical spills in land near the building over the last three years.
Consultant BlocPower — brought in by NYCHA to test the environmental conditions inside a random selection of developments — turned over the results to NYCHA management on Thursday. It also shared the data with Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, a group of Brooklyn churches that advocates for affordable housing.
On Friday, city Department of Environmental Protection inspectors tested the air in the building, officials said, and are analyzing the one-day test. NYCHA has hired a contractor to fix the ventilation system this weekend to increase circulation there.
“NYCHA has been working with DEP and (the city Department of Health & Mental Hygiene) since this was first brought to our attention yesterday . ... While we are still determining the source of those initial readings, we have secured a contractor to clean the ventilation systems to improve air circulation.”
Responding to the News report, city Controller Scott Stringer and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams Friday demanded NYCHA take action.
“Public housing residents, like all New Yorkers, deserve safe, healthy homes with clean air,” Stringer said. “NYCHA needs to immediately address the polluted air problem ... (and) communicate honestly and transparently with residents.”
Borough President Adams stated, “I’m disturbed by high chemical levels found in the indoor air at Brownsville’s Saratoga Village. I join Metro IAF’s call for NYCHA to immediately test the entire impacted building and implement air quality improvement measures.”