NYC Politicians Demand Public Housing Officials Reveal Lead Test Results for Tap Water

NEW YORK CITY, NY — Two members of the New York City Council's Committee on Public Housing have called for the release of lead tests allegedly conducted in March on the tap water at public housing developments.

"We deserve to know that residents’ health and safety are top priorities for NYCHA and what steps are being taken to address lead issues in apartments," Councilman Ritchie Torres, who chairs the Public Housing Committee, said in a statement Tuesday.

Brooklyn representative Laurie Cumbo, another member of the committee, said: "NYCHA should provide us with the information [about] which developments have been tested. We certainly want to make sure that the tenants, and particularly the children in our housing developments, are as safe as they possibly can be."

On March 28, Shola Olatoye, who heads the New York City Housing Authority, or NYCHA, had informed this same committee that her agency recently performed lead tests on the water in 175 vacant NYCHA apartments. (As reported by Politico.)

Zodet Negron, a NYCHA spokeswoman, confirmed as much to Patch on March 29.

According to Negron, "elevated" lead levels were found in the water at 13 apartments on "first draw" — when the water was first turned on — but only one apartment showed elevated levels on "second draw," after the water had been allowed to run for one to two minutes.

However, as first reported by Patch on April 5, despite repeated questioning, NYCHA has yet to release the locations of the buildings tested — including the location of the apartment showing high lead levels on second draw.

The department has not explained why these critical tests haven't been shared publicly.

NYCHA's spokeswoman also told Patch that 100 water quality tests were conducted in occupied apartments between 2010 and 2015. However, as evidence, she only shared an undated spreadsheet listing 79 tests — again, without explanation.

According to the spreadsheet, the tests showed that all lead levels measured were safe, according to the standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

On April 7, Patch filed a Freedom of Information Law request asking for a list of the 175 water tests taken in March, as well as a complete list of tests taken between 2010 and 2015. About one week later, NYCHA requested an additional month to respond.

Additionally, NYCHA officials have not explained how — or if — their residents can find the results of past water testing in their building.

NYCHA manages 328 buildings in the city — home to about 400,000 residents, according to its website.

“For the sake of transparency, NYCHA should make information related to lead testing — where they happened and the results — available to the public," Councilman Torres said Tuesday.

And Councilwoman Cumbo called for additional water tests at NYCHA properties, considering the iffy results from alleged tests in March.

"I think that any amount of lead testing that would produce those types of results is cause for greater testing to understand what the entire issue is in all of the NYCHA developments," Cumbo said. "A sampling isn't really going to suffice, particularly because all [NYCHA properties] are really old buildings."

The lawmakers' statements were supported by Paul Schwartz, a senior adviser to The Water Alliance, an environmental activist group focused on water issues.

"There's no reason why they should not make this information totally transparent and available," Schwartz said Monday, referring to NYCHA.

"It's the only way public health folks can work to support the populations they're working with," Schwartz said, "and the only way that individuals can understand the threat they're facing."

Photo by Steve Johnson