Newark Mayor On Lead In Water Reports: ‘We’re Not Flint’ (VIDEOS)
NEWARK, NJ — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka didn’t exactly call the news reports comparing the city to Flint, Michigan “fake news.” But the oft-quoted slogan coined by President Donald Trump seems to be a fitting way to sum up Baraka’s feelings in the wake of the city’s ongoing struggle with lead in its water supply.
In October, Newark officials kicked off a massive effort to distribute thousands of lead water filters to residents after a recent study revealed that corrosion control is "no longer effective" in some parts of the city's water network.
Municipal workers and community groups went door-to-door and handed out free filters to residents of homes with lead service lines, the suspected source of the issue. There are at least 15,000 homes with lead services lines in Newark, the New Jersey Sierra Club estimated.
“Newark's water has some of the highest lead levels of any big city in the nation,” charged spokespeople with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which filed a safe drinking water lawsuit with the Newark Education Workers (NEW Caucus) against the City of Newark in June.
“They have known for more than a year, yet they've told residents it's safe to drink,” the NRDC stated.
See related article: Newark Hands Out Thousands Of Lead Water Filters After Lawsuit
After several news reports compared Newark’s recent struggle with Flint’s highly publicized battle with lead contamination, Baraka issued a statement blasting the metaphor.
“Newark is not Flint,” Baraka emphasized in a news release last week, printing the tagline in boldface and all caps.
According to the mayor:
“Here is the truth about Newark’s water that many media outlets are failing to report… As in cities all over the country, Newark’s water is delivered at many homes through obsolete infrastructure – lead service lines, or plumbing containing lead elements. Newark does not own that lead-containing infrastructure. But Newark, like most cities with lead service lines must treat its water to make sure that the water prevents lead from corroding from the pipes or plumbing as much as possible.”
Read Baraka’s full statement and watch video responses below. Don’t forget to visit the Patch Newark Facebook page here.
MAYOR BARAKA: 'NEWARK IS NOT FLINT'
Here are the key differences:
1) Public officials in Flint, Michigan, chose to switch to a different water source, to rely on a water treatment plant with known mechanical and operational deficiencies, and to discontinue corrosion control treatment. Newark’s corrosion control grew less effective in recent years in the Pequannock treatment area for multiple reasons, including a shift in the pH of the water, not through any choice; corrosion control is now being improved.
(2) Flint water had a variety of other problems, including widespread water main breaks and elevated levels of bacteria prompting Boil Water Advisories. Newark’s water does not have these problems; it just needs corrosion control improvements, which are underway.
(3) US Environmental Protection Agency found that public officials in Flint and at the state oversight agency had not fully implemented the Lead and Copper Rule and ignored rule violations and lead level elevations; Newark has been in full compliance.
(4) US EPA found that oversight of drinking water law in Michigan languished; New Jersey is an attentive and energetic regulator.
(5) Newark is getting ahead of problems by going far beyond what the law requires in distributing filters and securing state funding to replace private lead service lines.
NEWARK IS MOVING MORE AGGRESSIVELY ON THE LEAD ISSUE THAN ANY CITY EVER HAS. While thousands of water systems across the country have exceeded EPA’s lead-action-level, as Newark did in 2017 and 2018, no city has ever done more than Newark to respond. The Safe Drinking Water Act does not require Newark to provide filters for its residents – but Newark is doing so. The Safe Drinking Water Act does not require Newark to secure state funding to help its residents pay for replacing their lead service lines – but Newark is doing so. Newark is going above and beyond what the law requires to make sure the city’s water infrastructure will support the tremendous growth and development that is on the horizon for Newark.
Newark is acting very quickly on a scientific report it just received at the beginning of October. In early 2018, Newark asked engineers to study the increasing levels of lead in drinking water, and the engineering report just came back at the beginning of October. That report suggested that EPA’s usual advice in this situation – making sure everyone knew how to flush their pipes – was not good enough. The report recommended distributing filters, and Newark immediately accepted that recommendation and started doing it as fast as possible.
NEWARK IS COMPLYING WITH THE LAW. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has stated repeatedly and publicly that Newark is in full compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. That law requires Newark to take certain steps to make sure the water is treated properly to reduce lead corrosion as much as possible. NJDEP agrees that Newark is taking all of those steps.
Corrosion control improvements are coming soon for Pequannock treatment area. The engineering report the City received in early October shows that water treatment in the Pequannock treatment area is not protecting against lead corrosion on private property as much as it used to. The report recommended a different kind of treatment – called orthophosphate, as used now in the Wanaque treatment area – and Newark is implementing this recommendation immediately.
Newark has secured money to help people pay to replace their lead lines and plumbing. The City wants every lead service line in the City replaced in the next eight years. Even though Newark does not own those lines, it has secured funding to help residents pay for the replacements. The process of getting the work done is underway.
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Photo: City of Newark / YouTube
