NEW INTERACTIVE MAP SHOWS MORE THAN 1.25 MILLION DRINKING WATER SERVICE LINES IN NEW YORK STATE ARE EITHER LEAD OR POSSIBLY LEAD

NYLCVEF’s new interactive map allows people to search whether the pipe delivering drinking water to their home puts them at risk for lead exposure. 

The findings – which reveal more than one in three drinking  water service lines in the state are lead or possibly lead – serves as a wake up call to state lawmakers to help communities solve this problem.

Approximately 3.1 million people across the state or 15% receive their drinking water through pipes that are lead or possibly lead. 

The City of Poughkeepsie has the highest concentration of lead or possible lead service lines in the state with 82%. 

The Cities of Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester have the highest concentrations of large NYS cities outside of NYC  45%, 45%, and 28%, respectively.

The Cities of Mount Vernon and New Rochelle have the highest concentration in Westchester County with 49% and 25%, respectively. 

Over 90% of all the lead pipes in Nassau County on Long Island are concentrated in 8 water districts.

New York City has 123K pipes in need of replacement, the highest number in the state.

NEW YORK, NY — The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund released an interactive map to help New York State residents determine if the building they live in (i.e., small apartment building or a single-family home) or visit or work (i.e., a house of worship or small office) has a drinking water service line that is or is possibly made of lead. Drinking water service lines are the pipes that carry water from the water main in the street to the inside of buildings. 

Approximately 1.25 million – or more than one in three – water service lines in New York State are either made of lead or possibly made of lead, potentially impacting upwards of 3.1 million or 15% of all New Yorkers. 

The 15 cities in New York State with the highest percentage of lead service lines are Poughkeepsie (82%), Port Jervis (67%), Little Falls (61%), Mount Vernon (49%), Oswego (46%), Syracuse (45%), Buffalo (45%), Kingston (35%), Gloversville (34%), Rochester (28%), New Rochelle (25%), Utica (22%), Johnstown (20%), Elmira (16%), Sherrill and New York City (15%). A full list for cities can be found here.

NYLCVEF’s map is an easy-to-use tool for New Yorkers to quickly see if they are at risk. It can be searched by city, county, or legislative district, which enables residents and public officials to advocate for themselves and their communities.

“We hope New Yorkers waste no time in checking this map to see if they have a lead or possible lead pipe delivering drinking water to their home and, if so, take immediate and simple actions to protect themselves and their families from lead exposure,” said NYLCV Senior Vice President Joshua Klainberg. “It should also serve as a wake up call to state lawmakers to act now  to find lead pipes faster, provide more funding to communities to solve a problem not of their making, and to ensure that all water systems are providing a ‘gold standard’ approach to lead service line removal.”

The landing page for the map can be found here.

Other Key Findings:

• More than one-third of the service lines in the state are made of lead or possible lead. At least 8% are confirmed lead service lines and more than 25% are deemed of an “unknown” material, which means it should be considered “possible lead” until determined otherwise. 

• The 15 counties with the highest percentage of lead service lines are Fulton (21%), Bronx (20%), Queens (20%), Herkimer (15%), Onondaga (14%), Erie (13%), Kings (13%), Dutchess (12%), New York (12%), Chemung (11%), Ulster (11%), Oneida (11%), Westchester (10%), Oswego (10%), and Montgomery (10%).  A full list can be found here.

• The 10 Congressional Districts with the highest percentage of lead service lines are NY-14 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (24%), NY-5 – Gregory Meeks (23%), NY-7 – Nydia Velázquez (21%), NY-15 – Ritchie Torres (17%), NY-26 – Tim Kennedy (15%), NY-16 – George Latimer (15%), NY-10 – Dan Goldman (15%), NY-13 – Adriano Espaillat (13%), NY-6 – Grace Meng (13%), and NY-9 – Yvette Clarke (13%). A full list can be found here.

• The 10 State Senate Districts with the highest percentage of lead service lines are SD-63 – April N.M. Baskin (30%), SD-34 – Nathalia Fernandez (28%), SD-12 – Michael N. Gianaris (26%), SD-36 – Jamaal T. Bailey (25%), SD-13 – Jessica Ramos, (25%), SD-33 – J. Gustavo Rivera (24%), SD-14 – Leroy G. Comrie Jr. (23%), SD-15 – Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. (23%), SD- 48 – Rachel May (22%), and SD-10 – James Sanders Jr. (20%). A full list can be found here. 

• The 10 State Assembly Districts with the highest percentage of lead service lines are AD-89 – J. Gary Pretlow (49%), AD-141 – Crystal Peoples Stokes (47%), AD-129 – William Magnarelli (35%), AD-32 – Vivian E. Cook (28%), AD-33 – Clyde Vanel (28%), AD-87 – Karines Reyes (27%), AD-137 – Demond Meeks (27%), AD-38 – Jenifer Rajkumar (27%), AD- 37 – Claire Valdez (26%),
  and AD-82 – Michael Benedetto (26%). A full list can be found here.

• On Long Island, over 90% of all of Nassau County’s 13K lead pipes can be found in the following eight adjoining water districts: Willston Park, Garden City, Water Authority of Western Nassau, East Williston, Rockville Centre, Mineola, Hempstead, Liberty Utilities – Lynbrook.
  

Last October, the federal EPA issued the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements requiring more rigorous testing of drinking water and a lower threshold requiring communities to take action to protect people from lead exposure in water. In addition, the final rule improves communication within communities so that families are better informed about the risk of lead in drinking water, the location of lead pipes, and plans for replacing them. A key part of this rule is the historic requirement for the vast majority of water systems to replace all lead service lines within 10 years starting in 2027.

According to the EPA, cities like Benton Harbor, MI, and Green Bay, WI, replaced their lead service lines in less than 10 years. Other systems like Detroit, MI, Pittsburgh, PA, Denver, CO, Milwaukee, WI, and Saint Paul, MN, have already started this work and are on pace to replace every lead service line within the next 10 years.

While some municipalities have already begun  some replacement work on lead service lines, many are still figuring out where the lead pipes are.  The pace of this early work and the forecast of the resources needed indicate that New York State will fall far short of what will be required to comply with the new federal Lead and Copper rule.

NYLCVEF and its allies are calling on the state to create a program for all water systems to follow that would remove all lead service lines over a ten year period at no direct cost to New Yorkers. A centralized, mandatory replacement program would reduce the costs for lead service line replacements through economies of scale. It will also be less disruptive neighborhoods that will need mass-scale replacements. To ensure high quality work, lead pipe replacements should be conducted by union labor, pay prevailing wage, and where possible utilize apprenticeship programs to open employment opportunities to local community members.

This work is just getting started with the help of federal and state grants and financing that is available to help pay for lead service line replacements, such as the the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the state’s Lead Infrastructure Forgiveness and Transformation (LIFT), the Clean Water Infrastructure Act, and the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022. Unfortunately, the amount of funding currently committed  will not be adequate to the task. The Congress and President as well as the Governor and state legislature must meet this moment by allocating additional funding to replace lead service lines to help New York State’s water systems to fully fund this federal mandate with public dollars. 

About lead exposure:
There is no safe level of lead exposure as even small doses can affect almost every organ and system in the human body, often with irreversible effects. People of all ages face health risks from lead exposure, but fetuses and young children are most susceptible to the adverse effects of lead. Lead exposure is particularly dangerous in drinking water because it is colorless, tasteless, and odorless.