Newark’s drinking water lead levels are among the highest recorded by a large water system in the United States in recent years, and not enough is being done to respond to the water crisis, according to a coalition of local and national organizations. Efforts by the groups to secure greater transparency, including a public meeting to discuss plans to address the lead contamination with Newark’s Mayor, Ras J. Baraka and officials at the Department of Water and Sewer Utilities, have failed.

Newark’s lead levels measure approximately the same level as found by independent researchers in Flint, Michigan in the late summer 2015, when that city was not using proper chemical treatment to reduce lead contamination in its water.

“The City of Newark has been slow to widely release pertinent information about the real danger of lead in our drinking water and has yet to inform the public of the specific locations where lead pipes were found. This lack of transparency is concerning, if not alarming,” said Newark resident, Melissa Miles, an Environmental Justice Organizer with the Ironbound Community Corporation. “I find it unacceptable that the City is fast-tracking development while slow to comprehensively address life-threatening infrastructure issues like this one.”

Read the full story: https://www.nrdc.org/media/2017/170921