Newark residents can go back to using 38,000 city-distributed filters to reduce lead in the water, state and local officials announced on Monday, citing preliminary testing that found 97% of filters were working as expected.
The city, however, will continue offering free bottled water for those who remain concerned until the state launches a new $1 million program to provide door-to-door to assistance with filter installation.
“We thank God that the filters work, but we are not in any way having a victory lap,” Mayor Ras Baraka said during a press conference. “It is good news in a long and arduous task to make sure we have clean drinking water.”
The long-anticipated results cap a tumultuous few weeks that forced a mass-scale distribution of bottled water to more than 14,000 homes amid the city’s three-year crisis.
“The test results will provide the information that is necessary for folks to make a judgement with respect to the remaining level of risk,” state Department of Environmental Protection Chief of Staff Shawn LaTourette told reporters.
Officials declined to elaborate on the 3% of filters that did not work as expected, or how high lead levels were when those filters were used.
Kareem Adeem, acting director of the city’s water and sewer department, said it could be a variety of reasons, including filters not being properly installed or residents running hot water through them, which can render them ineffective. A final report with additional details will be completed in the coming weeks, he said.
It’s still unclear why initial sampling last month -- which prompted the mass distribution of bottled water -- showed two of three filters were not keeping water safe.
“It could be a matter of bad luck or a bad batch of filters on the market,” LaTourette said, adding that residents can have a “high degree of confidence” to use filtered tap water now.
Newark and the DEP, together with the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection, tested 300 filters and collected 1,700 samples. The filters were tested as is, to get an accurate measure of whether they were being used correctly, officials said. Preliminary results showed filters were 99% effective if the water was flushed for at least five minutes. LaTourette did not immediately provide numbers about the lead levels prior to filtration, but said 97% of results showed lead levels under 10 parts per billion post-filtration.
There is no safe level of lead, but the federal government sets an acceptable standard of 15 parts per billion that mandates when water systems need to take action. The PUR filters, which were distributed in Newark, are nationally certified to remove 150 parts per billion of lead and have been used across the country, including in Flint, Michigan.
Gov. Phil Murphy called the results “a welcome jolt of positive news."
New Hope Baptist Church Pastor Joe A. Carter said though the news was good and not the “worst case,” he was still concerned about the filters that failed. “How do I know that a filter is not part of that 3%?” he asked. “Three percent of 38,000 filters, that’s still a lot of filters, that’s still a lot of homes.”
More than 29,000 families on the western side of the city were urged to rely on bottled water to cook and drink for the last 43 days as officials scrambled to distribute thousands of cases of free water. Officials began distributing bottled water after the EPA asked the city to do on Aug. 9.
An EPA spokeswoman told NJ Advance Media the agency agreed with the preliminary findings but was not ready to issue a final recommendation on bottled water use.
“EPA will continue its discussions with the state to clarify whether Newark will provide bottled water until the joint analyses by the city, the state and EPA of the draft report and the data are completed and we further understand the details of their community assistance program,” the agency said, referring to the $1 million volunteer program to help residents install filters.
Only residents with lead service lines -- pipes that link underground water mains to homes -- and homes with elevated lead levels are eligible for the free faucet and pitcher filters.
DEP Commissioner Catherine McCabe cautioned that “there is a small remaining risk” and residents with a lead service line should flush and filter before using their tap water.
Newarkers get water from one of two treatment plants. The Pequannock system pumps water to the West Ward, most of the South Ward and parts of the North and Central wards. The Wanaque plant serves the East Ward and parts of the North, Central and South wards.
The treatment meant to prevent lead from flaking off old lead pipes failed at the Pequannock plant, which caused Newark’s lead levels to spike citywide beginning in 2017. Only residents who get water from the Pequannock plant were eligible for bottled water.
The city’s new water treatment process to prevent lead from leaching into the water from old pipes and plumbing began in May but won’t take effect for another few months. Officials are simultaneously replacing all 18,000 lead service lines in the city under a $132 million program funded primarily by the county. Lead pipes in Belleville and Hillside will also be replaced. Although those pipes are privately-owned, the city lobbied for a law change that would allow them to use public dollars to replace them.
Erik Olson, a representative of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is suing the city and state over their handling of the lead crisis, said he remained concerned about the results.
“Three percent is still over 1,000 filters,” he said. "There also is an urgent need to ensure that all filters are properly installed, maintained and operated, with in-person instructions. Until this is sorted out, we urge the continued provision of bottled water to all at-risk Newark residents.”
It’s unclear when the state will launch its program to recruit volunteers to help residents install filters.
Read more of NJ.com’s coverage of New Jersey water issues here.
Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.
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