Despite Lead Water Pipe Ban, 46% of Brooklyn Residents Drink Water Contaminated With Lead
By Yehudit Garmaise
NYC.gov claims that the city’s water is “virtually lead-free when it is delivered from the City’s upstate reservoir system,” but approximately 46% of Brooklyn's service lines that lead from water mains to homes are contaminated with the dangerous heavy metal, according to Gothamist.
In fact, about 40% of the City’s service lines are believed to contain lead, which can contain toxins that are not good for anyone to consume but are particularly harmful to the brain development of babies and young children.
Public health experts say lead is so notoriously dangerous that humans cannot tolerate any lead in their bodies.
Since the Romans, city planners have chosen lead for its malleability to create water pipes, but today we know lead poses significant health hazards and has no place in our homes and water systems.
New York City stopped installing lead service lines in 1961, but many previously installed lead service lines remain.
The unknown number of the city’s lead service pipes in use creates lead corrosion, which is the chemical reaction by which lead flakes off the pipes and into the City’s water supply.
New York City treats its water to prevent corrosion, says the Department of Environmental Protection, but lead levels can still spike depending on the temperature of the water and the time since it was last used.
In 1987, the city further attempted to decrease lead in its drinking water by banning the use of lead solder, which, in addition to pipes and fixtures, can also leach lead into drinking water.
The New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning claims that lead pipes may still carry water to as many as 900,000 homes citywide.
The City’s pipes need to be replaced for the public's health, said Joan Matthews, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. He wants the City Council to pass a bill mandating that city agencies replace the lead pipes within the next decade.
To reduce your family’s exposure to lead in drinking water, NYC.gov offers the following tips:
1. Run your tap until the water is cold: for at least 30 seconds, before using the water for drinking, cooking, and making baby formula when your faucet has gone unused for several hours.
2. Never use hot water for drinking, cooking, and making baby formula as lead dissolves more easily in heated water.
3. Clean faucet screens, where lead and other sediment can build up. To clean the screens, periodically remove them from all taps and rinse them for three to five minutes.
Readers who want their water tested for lead can call 311 or go to NYC.gov to fill in an online form to order a free lead-in-drinking-water test kit.