A new report from the National Resource Defense Council suggests that up to 360,000 lead pipes carry water to homes in New York.
The council said the lead problem lies in utility lines or pipes that carry water from main lines under the street to homes and are believed to be the main source of lead in drinking water. The national report analyzed data from 10 states, including Connecticut (43,000 lead pipes) and New Jersey (350,000 lead pipes).
“That number is nationwide, certainly in urban areas, you’d expect more lead service lines to be seen, but it could be an issue in rural communities as well,” said Joan Leary Matthews, a senior counsel for the council.
New York, which ranks fourth according to the report, is among the 23 states that do not collect data on the number of lead pipes across the country. The council drew on data from a 2016 American Water Association survey conducted by the US government’s Accountability Office that found “low estimates” of lead pipes.
However, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Clean Water Infrastructure Act in 2017, which included a mains replacement program.
On Long Island, the Suffolk County Water Board, which serves 400,000 customers in central Suffolk, said they knew of no lead pipes in the area. However, service lines are not their property.
“There are no lead aqueducts in our service area, and of course there is no lead in groundwater, so we have these advantages in Suffolk County,” said a spokesman for the water authority.
Joe Pokorny, the agency’s deputy CEO for operations, said water is being pumped from supply wells and the lead risk is minimal.
“Any lead that is put into the water goes only through the pipes, pipes and conduits in people’s homes,” he said.
Pokorny said most of the lead pipes were found in neighborhoods that were developed before World War II and that are confined to central Suffolk County.
“Suffolk County is relatively new,” he said, referring to the focal point of suburban creep in the 1950s. “Really, most of Suffolk County was built after World War II, so we don’t know of any utility lines in our territory that were made of lead at this point.”
Since 2017, several cities on Long Island have received funding under the lead service line replacement program. In Nassau County, the city of Glen Cove and the cities of Hempstead and North Hempstead also received funding.
The city of Southold, in eastern Suffolk County, received over $ 1.2 million. The Suffolk County Water Board controls only 85% of the county’s water supply. Most of the money was given directly to the village of Greenport, which takes care of the water distribution. Pokorny said he was not privy to these redevelopment efforts outside of the agency’s territory.
Also separate from the county, the City of Riverhead received a grant of nearly $ 630,000 in August 2019 to replace lead lines. Dawn Thomas, the director of the city’s community development agency, said the pandemic had delayed implementation, but in recent months a contract has been signed with the state Department of Health to start the process. The city is working with engineers to determine which pipes need to be replaced.
Suffolk County’s Water Board plans to check their pipes to make sure there is no evidence due to a new federal mandate.
In 2018, Congress passed a requirement that the EPA consider all lead pipes in the country and estimate the cost of replacing them by 2022. To do this, the EPA must obtain data from individual states so that grants can be distributed through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which contains money that is made available to improve the water infrastructure.
In 2016, Cuomo ordered lead testing and sanitation of drinking water in public schools, and requested that the results be publicly disclosed. That year, the Biden government proposed $ 45 billion in its latest infrastructure package to eliminate lead pipes across the country.
“We have a very sophisticated GIS system that we use to map all of our water pipes and underground utilities,” said Pokorny, comparing the system to the old paper records of house construction and data from their service work now working on these maps Revise so that we can show on the maps the type of materials that make up the water supply and that will allow our interns and our staff who will be going through this to visualize on a map what materials we have, what houses we go to Have dates and which ones don’t.
Pokorny said if a house was built after 1960 the pipes were most likely made of copper.
According to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, there is no safe lead content in children. Even with low exposure over a relatively long period of time, lead can contribute to developmental problems, including damage to the brain and nervous system, learning difficulties, and short stature. Adults can suffer from cardiovascular disease and negative reproductive and kidney effects, as well as other health problems, when exposed.
Defense Council’s Matthews said New Yorkers worried about lead could turn to their local multiplicity to access their home’s building records. She also recommended doing a “scratch test”. Take a coin or screwdriver and rub it where the pipe goes to your house or water meter.
“If it turns out to be shiny somehow, then you have a lead service line or lead pipe,” she said.
She also recommended that residents use a filtration system if they suspect there might be lead in their home. Customers with concerns can contact the Suffolk County Water Authority or their municipal supplier for a more in-depth water test. The agency reports that their territory has not previously seen lead in water.
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