With Newark’s lead crisis garnering national attention and mounting public pressure, the city will receive $120 million to eliminate the source of lead its water in less than three years.
Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. was flanked by Gov. Phil Murphy and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Monday morning to officially announce the bond program that will expedite the city’s planned replacement of 18,000 lead pipes. The lead service lines which connect individual homes to underground mains will now be replaced in 24-30 months, instead of over a decade.
“This challenge was too important to ignore, and I am happy that Essex is able to help,” DiVincenzo said.
The money will speed up the timeline on Newark’s original $75 million plan, which was scheduled to take eight years and began in March. So far, 702 pipes have been replaced.
“I don’t want to wait that long,” DiVincenzo said. “I want this long-term solution to happen sooner rather than later.”
Baraka emphasized that with the new money from the county, lead line replacement will be cost-free for homeowners. Under the original program, homeowners were on the hook for up to $1,000 each.
“With this new money, we’re anticipating that no one will have to pay anything to have their lead service lines replaced,” Baraka said. He added that the hundreds of homeowners who already had their lines replaced will not be billed for the work.
The Essex County Improvement Authority will issue the bond after getting approval from the Essex County Freeholders, the Newark City Council and the ECIA’s Board of Commissioners — all of which are scheduled to vote on the measure on Tuesday. If approved, the money can be available by the fall.
Once the new bond is in place, Newark will be required to pay back $6.2 million annually for 30 years. Baraka said Newark taxes will not be increased to pay back the bond; he will seek state or federal funding to cover the debt.
U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr., D-10th Dist., said he has been consulting with U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan, who represents Flint, to find sources of federal funding to help Newark.
“I’m not starting from scratch. I have a program that has worked,” Payne said. “There were federal dollars that were allocated to Flint during this time, and I’m looking to recreate that for Newark.”
Taxes across the county will not increase either, officials said.
The county bond will add to money already provided by the state. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine McCabe previously said the state gave Newark a $12 million loan with up to $9 million in loan forgiveness for the first phase of the program.
Worry over lead in Newark’s water surged earlier this month, when the federal government requested that bottled water be distributed to city residents after questions were raised about the effectiveness of filters that had been handed out by the city. Baraka said bottled water hand-outs will continue at least until the problems with the filters have been figured out.
Lead service lines are the source of lead in Newark’s water. The old pipes connect individual properties to water mains, and are usually the responsibility of the homeowner.
“Replacing the lead service lines is the only permanent way to address this issue,” Baraka said. He added that the city would replace the lines “as swiftly as humanly possible.”
Federal law mandates drinking water be treated to prevent the lead pipes from corroding and contaminating the water. That corrosion control treatment failed at Newark’s Pequannock treatment plant, putting residents at risk in the city’s South, West and parts of the North and Central wards.
A new method of corrosion control was been implemented at the Pequannock plant, but is expected to take months to go take effect.
The rest of the city is served by the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission’s Wanaque treatment plant, where corrosion control has been working.
All Newark residents, regardless of which water plant serves them, are eligible to have their lead service lines replaced. Residents must first sign up with the city.
Newark sells water from the Pequannock treatment plant to other nearby municipalities, some of which are dealing with their own lead problems. Bloomfield, for example, has already been replacing lead service lines at no cost to property owners. The township recently took out a $1.1 million loan to continue that work.
DiVincenzo said that the same terms of the county bond program have been extended to Bloomfield, Belleville and Nutley.
Bloomfield Mayor Michael Venezia said the township was reviewing the bond terms, but added “the county is an option that we are exploring.”
Nutley Mayor Joseph Scarpelli said there are 91 known lead service lines in town but officials were still reviewing the terms of the bond program. The town has not reported elevated lead levels in the water but are only required to test every three years.
Belleville Mayor Michael Melham called the county program “the first real solution I’ve heard in a month.” Belleville has had elevated lead levels and 6,000 of its 8,800 service lines are made of lead. All of its water comes from Newark.
Melham expressed frustration with state and federal officials’ response to the crisis this month and asked residents be given filters at least until the corrosion control treatment takes effect.
“Belleville requires the same assistance you’re giving Newark,” he said. “I’m calling federal and state representatives to remind them that Belleville residents drink Newark water.”
Lead is particularly harmful to children and pregnant women and known to cause problems with cognition and behavior. Residents concerned about health exposure can call a 24-hour hotline established by the state at 1-866-448-2432. Assistance will be available in 150 languages.
On Saturday, Baraka and Murphy appeared on Al Sharpton’s show on MSNBC to assure the public they were moving quickly to address the problem and would hold anyone who dropped the ball accountable.
“Certainly, if somebody bungled something, they need to be held accountable,” Murphy said. He reiterated that there was no benefit to declaring a state of emergency because all their resources had not been exhausted.
Read more of NJ.com’s coverage of New Jersey water issues here.
Karen Yi may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.
Michael Sol Warren may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MSolDub. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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