Borough Presidents: Public Schools Must Take Immediate Action On Lead-Contaminated Water

BROOKLYN, NY — After the city changed its method of testing lead in public schools' waters, inspectors found that many more schools had dangerous levels of lead in the water that students were drinking. Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams, along with the four other borough presidents, are requesting that the NYC Department of Education take immediate action on the contaminated water.

The five borough presidents wrote a letter to New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña urging the department to immediately provide bottled water or water coolers to public schools that have lead in their tap water.

Nearly 10 percent of all city public schools tested for lead in their water were found to have heavier contamination levels than allowed by the new Environmental Protection Agency guidelines, the letter says.

The borough presidents also called on the education department to implement lead testing at public schools on a regular basis, and to install water filtrating systems. While the systems are being installed, the presidents said schools should provide bottled water or water coolers for students to drink.

"While we understand that it takes some time to repair and replace contaminated fixtures, our children should not be unnecessarily exposed to high levels of leadwhile they wait for those changes to take place. The tragedy of Flint, Michigan should not be repeated here," the letter says.

Before 2016, the city tested lead levels in public schools after letting the water run for two hours the night before taking samples. It turned out that letting the water run for that long was distorting results. The latest round of tests that did not have the water run for two hours before taking samples found nine times as many water outlets with lead levels above the EPA's "action level" of 15 parts per billion as they had found the previous year, according to a state health department report released in December.

Inspectors for example found eight water outlets with lead levels above the "action level" in the latest round of testing at Public School 124 in Park Slope. The year before, they had found none.

The lowest levels of lead in children's blood have been shown to cause behavior and learning problems, a lower IQ and hyperactivity, slowed growth, hearing problems and anemia, according to the EPA.

"Reports of elevated lead levels at some buildings need to be taken seriously, and that starts with ensuring every affected school has access to safe water and free lead exposure testing," Adams said.

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