High Lead Levels Found in Some Stagnant Water Samples From NYC Public Housing

NEW YORK CITY, NY — A March 18 test of stagnant tap water in a vacant unit within Manhattan's occupied Metro North Plaza public housing complex revealed a lead level 83 times higher than the safety limit set by the federal government.

The finding was the most extreme in a group of test results provided to Patch last week by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

However, both city officials and outside experts who reviewed the results said they do not fear an immediate impact on public health.

The data dump came nearly one month after Patch first requested the testing results — and just days after Laurie Cumbo and Ritchie Torres, both members of the City Council's Committee on Public Housing, called for the information to be made public.

Back in late March, NYCHA head Shola Olatoye reassured the committee that her agency had recently conducted water tests in 175 vacant apartments around the city.

However, this newly released data set contains previously unknown details concerning lead levels found in the water studied.

NYCHA manages 328 buildings housing about 400,000 residents, according to its website.

Its March water tests were conducted with help from the city's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, according to NYCHA.

Of 175 samples taken, the new data shows, 13 revealed unsafe lead levels on "first draw" — in other words, when the tap was initially turned on after the water had sat stagnant in the building's pipes for a period of time. (NYCHA did not provide details on how long the units had been vacant.)

In addition to the Metro North Plaza sample mentioned above, NYCHA also found stagnant water with:

• 63 times the federal lead limit in an apartment at the Ocean Hill-Brownsville development (2041 Pacific St. in Ocean Hill, Brooklyn, between Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights)

• 45 times the federal lead limit at an apartment at the Berry Houses (36 Dongan Hills Ave. on Staten Island)

• 36 times the federal lead limit at an apartment at the Forest Hills Co-op (110-01 62nd Drive in Queens)

By "second draw" — aka, once the tap water had been allowed to run for one to two minutes — lead levels in the water at 174 of 175 apartments were considered back within the safe range.

The exception was the Berry Houses apartment, which still showed a lead level 10.5 times higher than the federal safety limit.

Strangely, though, NYCHA spokeswoman Zodet Negron told Patch that "subsequent tests of this sample came back negative" for dangerous lead contamination.

The safety limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is 15 lead parts-per-billion.

Lead contamination in other city water supplies around America have been blamed on badly maintained lead pipes.

Negron said "virtually all" of the buildings run by NYCHA do not use service lines made of lead. However, she said "there is a relatively small chance of lead entering tap water through the plumbing after sitting in pipes and faucets for extended periods of time" — a scenario more likely to occur in vacant apartments than in occupied ones, where pipes are in regular use.

For that reason, NYCHA urges residents to always let their taps run until the water is cold.

Dr. Joseph Graziano, chair of Columbia University's Environmental Health Sciences Department and an expert on the health impact of various metals, said Monday that he found NYCHA's test results to be encouraging.

Graziano said he was "not at all surprised" that some stagnant samples turned up high lead levels, considering small amounts of lead plumbing can usually be found in large water systems.

"The longer [water] sits, the higher the opportunity for [lead] to accumulate in the pipeline," he said.

The city's tests of non-stagnant water, Graziano continued, "really does indicate the extent to which lead has been removed from the overall water supply system."

Asked whether lead levels below the EPA's 15 parts-per-billion threshold were a cause for worry, Graziano said, "I personally would not be concerned if it were my children or my grandchildren."

Dr. Kenneth Gould, who heads the Brooklyn College Urban Sustainability Program, gave a similar assessment — although he said residual lead plumbing in water systems still presents a problem.

"In the long run, you would like to have a water infrastructure that doesn't have any lead in it," Gould told Patch on Monday. "Kids will forget to run the tap first. That's a vector for lead exposure."

However, Gould said that in reality, "if we want to have zero lead in the water, we really have to tear out all of this old water infrastructure. In a city like this, the expense of that is astronomical."

A complete list of the 175 tests performed on March 18 in NYCHA units can be viewed here, and is embedded below. (NYCHA did not provide information showing how long these apartments had been vacant.)

After reviewing the March 18 results, NYCHA re-tested the water in all 13 units where high lead levels were measured on first draw, according to Negron.

The agency did not conduct this second round of tests itself, Negron said, and instead employed "an expert consultant" to do so.

NYCHA's spokeswoman would not provide the name of said consultant.

The water was tested on first draw, on second draw, and on "third draw," meaning after the water had run for 10 minutes.

Only one sample showed a slightly elevated lead level on first draw. The others were below the 15 ppb level.

A complete list of the second-round tests can be found here, and is embedded below. (This spreadsheet lists the first two tests performed on March 18 as "1st Draw" and "2nd Draw." It then lists the next three tests performed during the re-testing period as "3rd Draw," "4th Draw," and "5th Draw.")

NYCHA has also provided Patch with the results from 101 tests allegedly conducted in occupied apartments between 2010 and 2015.

According to Negron, the tests were conducted as part of the city’s Free Residential Testing Program, through which any city resident can request a water test by calling 311 or filling out an online form.

None of the tests showed a lead level above the EPA's safety limit. However, the test results were not dated. When asked for an explanation, Negron would say only that her agency and the city DEP did "not have any further information on exact dates."

A complete list of the 2010-15 tests can be found here, and is embedded below.

Editor's Note: This post has been updated for clarity. Commentary from Joseph Graziano and Kenneth Gould was also added for context.

Top photo by Steve Johnson