Newark Water Crisis: Luxury High Rise Finds Lead In Their Water Despite City's Claims It Was Safe
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – There are new water concerns in Newark this weekend. This time at a high rise luxury building downtown.
Independent testing found high levels of lead and now the city is stepping in to investigate.
"I don't think it's a good thing… I was really, really upset when I found out water was bad," resident Raymond Bangaru said.
Residents say they got an e-mail from building officials Friday saying, amid recent water concerns, management wanted to do its own independent testing with a qualified consultant.
They found an "elevated level of lead" in the water entering the building.
"I was very nervous at first because didn't even know how to wash my mouth," Mario Coka said.
Management is warning them not to use it for drinking, cooking, brushing, or preparing baby formula.
"It's water, the basic necessity of life… for it to be contaminated right it's like how do you end up staying in a city that can't even have clean water?" Claudia Granados added.
NEWARK WATER EMERGENCY: New Plan Revealed To Fast-Track Process Of Replacing Lead Pipes
The city of Newark has two public water sources.
The issue related to lead contamination has all been connected to the Pequannock plant; affecting 15,000 homes with old lead-service pipes.
The other is the Wanaque water system.
On Saturday in a statement, Mayor Ras Baraka said testing of the Wanaque system has found that it operates "well within federal standards."
A water sample from the same building from January shows the same thing.
Now the city is doing additional testing here. In the meantime building management has been giving free bottled water to residents.
