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“The permanent solution is to replace our lead service lines and expedite this process,” Mayor Ras Baraka said. “The Local Finance Board’s adoption of the bond provides us with the financial backing to do so, and significantly increase the pace of our work."
A county agency, the Essex County Improvement Authority, would issue the bonds to pay for the project. Previously, Newark had a replacement plan that called for homeowners and landlords to come up with the money on their own to replace lines. The plan to replace all lines, initially expected to take a decade, could be finished in just two to three years with the $120 million, officials have said.
County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, Gov. Phil Murphy and Baraka last month announced the plan for the ECIA to issue the bonds in order to dramatically speed up the rate at which lead lines are being replaced. The project took on a new urgency when officials discovered that elevated levels of lead could still be in the city's water system, even at homes with water filters.
Lead is considered a dangerous contaminant, especially for the very young, the very old and for expectant mothers.
Filters were initially distributed to forestall a contaminated water crisis similar to the one see in Flint, Michigan, but limited testing over the summer revealed the filters may not be removing enough of the metal to make tap water safe to consume.
Belleville, Nutley and Bloomfield, which also gets its water from a supply treated at a plant in Pequannock, has also been offered funding on the same terms in order to replace lead lines there at no cost to homeowners.
For more information on the Lead Service Replacement Program, Newark residents can visit https://www.newarkleadserviceline.com.
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