ABOUT THIS STORY

At the request of The Day, 10 residents who live and work at addresses throughout New London agreed to have their tap water tested independently from the required testing being done regularly by the municipal water system, which has not resulted in any violations of federal lead limits. New London was selected because it is the local community with the oldest housing stock, where lead pipes that can leach the toxic metal into the water are most likely to be found.

Samples were collected from seven private homes on Prospect, Granite and Ledyard streets, along with Montauk, Ocean and Gardner avenues and Town Hill Court. In addition, a sample was taken at Thames River Apartments on Crystal Avenue, the Drop-In Learning Center on Montauk Avenue, and the offices of the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut on Channing Street.

Following Environmental Protection Agency sampling protocols, two samples were collected on March 23 and 24 at each of the 10 addresses — one a “first draw” from a faucet not used for at least six hours, and a second after the water had run for two minutes. The samples were placed in a cooler and delivered to the lab at the Center for Environmental Sciences & Engineering at the University of Connecticut’s Storrs campus for testing.

The lab agreed to conduct the tests for The Day for a fee, after two commercial labs in eastern Connecticut certified by the state Department of Public Health to test municipal water samples both declined to let The Day hire them for the work, saying they didn’t want to participate in a project that could bring media attention to their companies.