Mayor Ras Baraka says sampling done on the water in hundreds of Newark homes has found that 97 percent of city-issued filters are working as expected. This round of testing was performed following tests last month in two homes showed elevated levels of lead.
“We thank god that the filters work, but we are not in anyway having a victory lap, because this is not a victory for us, it is good news in a long and arduous task to make sure we have clean drinking water.”
The city of Newark, the state DEP and Federal DPA tested 300 and collected some 1,700 samples. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy says the long term plan is to replace some 18,000 lead lines to the homes of Newark residents for free with the help of a $120 million replacement project that could be completed within 24 months.
“Make no mistake that this the only sure fire long term fix for clean and safe drinking water.”
Murphy says The DEP is also committing $1 million to create a volunteer task force to distribute information to the public. Officials say the community can have confidence in using the filters, however bottled water will continue to be distributed to concerned residents. It remains unclear why 3% of the filters failed
