M Focus on: Public Works
Workers replace lead service lines in a Newark, N.J., neighborhood. The city accelerated its program to replace the lines in two to three years instead of eight to 10. It expects work to be completed in a month or so. (Photo provided)
Newark accelerates its lead line replacements By DENISE FEDOROW | The Municipal
There’s no denying that the Flint, Mich., water crisis in 2014 shone a light on the issue of lead in drinking water and the potential hazards lurking underground in many cities and towns. There’s also no denying the nation’s infrastructure — including water mains — is aging and in need of replacement. Officials in Newark, N.J., said thanks to the collaborative efforts of government officials and private parties, they’ve made “remarkable” progress in replacing the lead lines in the city, one of the oldest in the U.S. They could accelerate what was initially expected to be an 8- to 10-year project to a two- to three-year one. Director of Water and Sewer Kareem Adeem said Newark’s first lead lines were installed in the 1850s, with the last one being installed in 1952. The city has good records going back that far, and through them, there are 18,700 known and another 6,000 unknown lead lines, for a total of 24,000. As of mid-May, the city has
22 THE MUNICIPAL | JULY 2021
already abated almost 22,000 households and Newark Water and Wastewater Director 19,000 lines. Kareem Adeem speaks at a town hall meetAdeem said it was June 2017 when officials ing while holding up a segment of copper notified and provided data to the Environ- pipe. (Photo provided) mental Protection Agency that the city had its first exceedance violation in 25 years. The city tested a sampling of 100 homes, and 11 of them Agency came up with new testing requiretested over the allowable 15 parts per billion. ments for all water purveyors, according to The prior year, in 2016, a school system had Adeem. lead in its water, but officials found there was Officials later discovered under a prior no connection to the city’s lines. Once that administration around 2010-2013, the city had was discovered, then governor, Chris Christie, “struggled to meet simultaneous compliance,” ordered testing for 150 of the largest schools in and a change in the sodium silicate at that the system. It was at that time, the New Jersey time could have played a part in later effecDepartment of Environmental Protection tiveness of protecting the pipes from corrosion.
