While not a full-on, city-wide crisis, New York is now part of the larger story on water quality stemming that began with the troubles in Flint, Michigan. DNAInfo is reporting that at PS/IS 217, a school on Roosevelt Island in New York City has, at least in some tests, more lead in its water than the average Flint home during the water crisis, and by large margins in some cases. The vast majority of homes in Flint had water contaminated at a rate of about 27 parts per billion, while faucets at PS/IS 217 ranged from ppb to an astounding 3,340 ppb. The Environmental Protection Agency’s “action threshold” is 15 ppb.
Parents were informed of the contamination in a letter sent on January 25th. In that letter, Elizabeth Rose, Deputy Chancellor at the NYC Department of Education, said that eight of 100 samples taken were contaminated. The DOE told DNAInfo that the problems were primarily in cold water faucets and not water fountains, with the unaffected fixtures giving readings under 15 ppb. The affected faucets have been removed for the time being.
[Photo: Public domain photo via Wikimedia Commons]