Over one-third of home water tests submitted to the city's environmental agency over the past decade detected lead. City records list more than 119,000 privately owned underground service lines as lead and another 110,000 as unknown. Lead is hazardous even at very low concentrations and can cause irreversible neurological, reproductive and other serious health problems. Field excavations exposed record inaccuracies: many lines recorded as lead were not, while about 30 percent of previously unknown lines tested have been lead. The Department of Environmental Protection must replace all lead service lines by 2037 and offers free replacements with federal funds, but only 59 percent of eligible owners have participated.
More than one-third of home test kits sent in for testing by residents to the city's environmental agency over the past decade had some level of lead - results that reflect many New Yorkers' continued reliance on pipes containing the potent neurotoxin. And more than 119,000 of the city's privately owned underground service lines, which connect the water supply to individual buildings, are made of lead, and another 110,000 are of an unknown material, according to city Department of Environmental Protection records.
Using federal infrastructure dollars, the DEP is offering to replace pipes for free in some neighborhoods in the Bronx and Queens, saving the roughly $15,000 cost. So far, the take-up has not been as welcoming as the department hoped for: Just 59 percent of 1,665 eligible property owners have participated, with the rest either failing to respond to multiple requests or e
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