Newark lead crisis grows as bottled-water distribution bungled
NEWARK, N.J. — A growing crisis over lead contamination in drinking water gripped Newark on Wednesday as tens of thousands of residents were told to drink only bottled water, the culmination of years of neglect that has pushed New Jersey’s largest city to the forefront of an environmental problem afflicting urban areas across the nation.
Urgent new warnings from federal environmental officials about contamination in drinking water from aging lead pipes spread anxiety and fear across much of Newark, but the municipal government’s makeshift efforts to set up distribution centers to hand out bottled water were hampered by confusion and frustration.
State and local officials said they were making free water available to 15,000 of the city’s 95,000 households, and hundreds of people waited in long lines in the summer heat to pick up cases of water. But officials had to halt the distribution temporarily after discovering that some of thewater exceeded its best-by date.
The intensifying worry about the safety of Newark’s drinking water has raised comparisons to Flint, Mich., where dangerous levels of lead led to criminal indictments against state and local officials and forced residents to rely on bottled water.
The lead crisis in Newark, a city of 285,000 people, had been brewing for years, but escalated sharply over the weekend after federal officials issued a scathing letter warning about the safety of the drinking water and urging city officials to take more aggressive steps.
While many communities rely on lead water pipes, Newark’s chronic financial challenges have made it difficult to upgrade its aging infrastructure. The situation was made worse because the city was slower than other places to address a flaw in a chemical compound that prevents lead from leaching into the water.
Residents who had been reassuredfor months by Mayor Ras Baraka, the head of the water department and other city leaders that the problem was being addressed were leftreeling, and some have called for Mr.Baraka to step down.
Newark had long denied that the city had a widespread problem with its drinking water, only to reverse course last fall and give away tens of thousands of water filters. But recenttests have shown that the filters werenot properly removing lead.
Like Flint, many of the neighborhoods affected by worries over the drinking water are predominantly AfricanAmerican and low income.
On Wednesday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy toured one of the water distribution centers, underscoring the severity of the problem.
“It’s a right, not a privilege, to have clean, safe water and we are committed to that,” Mr. Murphy said.
Thestate and city want “to get this as right, as fast as we can,” the governor said, calling on federal officials to help. “We take this very seriously. Wewant to be out ahead of this.”
Standing in long lines, residents expressed anger and fear over how wide-reaching the problem really was. Many said their anxiety over the water adds to the challenges the city already faces — from poverty to drugs.
“We’re ducking and dodging bullets every day. We can’t even take our kids out to play,’’ said Nafessah Venable as she stood outside a recreation center with her young son. “Now we’ve got to worry about water? Water is a necessity for life. How can we survive without clean water?”
Newark’s antiquated plumbing system has long carried a threat of leached lead.
In2016, annual testing of the water in Newark’s public schools revealed elevated lead levels; more than 30 schoolsshut off their water fountains andturned to bottled water.
In January 2017, a citywide testing system was put in place. Over the following 18 months, three consecutive tests found that 10 percent of Newark’s homes had water lead levels nearly twice the federal standard. In October, the city began distributing PUR water filters, the same devices used to combat lead in Flint.
Scientists agree there is no safe level of lead in water. High blood leadlevels can stunt a child’s mental development and damage organs. Even smaller amounts can affect children’s intellectual development.
The EPA’s benchmark for addressing lead in drinking water — 15 parts per billion — is not based on a specific health threat. It reflects a calculation that the water in at least nine out of 10 homes susceptible to lead contamination will fall below that standard.
“They were in denial for a long period of time,” said Erik D. Olson, the senior director for health programs at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which filed a lawsuit against the state and the city last year, accusing them of violating federal safe drinking water laws.
“It’s been a slow response, but they’re finally coming around to realizing that they do have a serious problem,and that’s a good thing.”
The recreation center was one of four distribution points set up by the city to hand out water. Some people waited an hour to get their allotted two cases.
Adding to the frustration, officials also turned away some people, telling them they were not eligible for free water because they did not live in an area identified as having elevated lead levels.
“When you get up there, they tell you you’ve got to be from a certain area to get the water,” said Leslie Holmon, a Newark grandmother.
She added, “They’ve got these seniorsstanding out here for nothing.”
Marguerite Royster, who had gone to the water distribution center with her grandson, said the trip was difficult.
“I’m not well, I’m not supposed to stand,” she said. “I’ve got plates and screws in my spine, had surgery. I fell down two flights of stairs at my job. So I’m really not supposed to be on my feet more than 15 to 20 minutes. But this is a must. We have to have water.”
Though some of the bottled water had an expired best-by date, federal officials said it was still safe to drink. But city officials said they did not want to further alarm residents, so thosebottles were not given away.
Environmental and health advocates have criticized city officials for failing to adequately address a growing health threat that began three years ago when high lead levels were foundin the drinking water at nearly half the city’s 67 schools, forcing someto shut down fountains and test thousandsof children.
Still, Newark officials spent more than a year insisting that the city did not have an extensive water problem, declaring on the city’s website that the water was “absolutely safe to drink.’’
But Newark shifted and started handing out nearly 40,000 water filters after a state study found that lead was leaching into the water because of ineffective corrosion treatment at one of the two plants that treat the city’s drinking water.
It has yet to be conclusively proved why the water became more corrosive, Mr. Olson said, but a city contractor noted that in 2015, Newark had tried to address a different issue with contaminants and “they adjusted their treatment” in ways thatmade the water more acidic.
“This change in water chemistry may have been responsible for Newark levels being so high now,” he said. “It’s an echo of Flint.”