Brooklyn is riddled with lead water piping that could take years to fix, putting residents—especially children—at risk of lead poisoning, environmental advocates say.

Right now, New York City is in the process of completing a pilot program to replace lead water service lines in 300 homes across the five boroughs, including some in Brooklyn.

However, replacing tens-of-thousands more lead pipes in the borough could take a decade or more, and action needs to be taken now, advocates say.

In 2020, New York City began replacing its lead service lines (LSLs) in 300 homes citywide, after being awarded a $5.3 million Lead Service Line Replacement Program grant, The New York State Department of Health told BK Reader.

Lead pipes are one of the sources of lead in drinking water. Photo: Pexels

The addresses selected for the pilot came from a pool of low-income homeowners who qualify for financial assistance for heat and water bills through the NYS Home Energy Assistance Program and NYC Home Water Assistance Programs, NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokesperson Edward Timbers told BK Reader.

Despite the initial 300 homes’ pipes being fixed in the city, water utilities estimate more than 37,000 water lines are potentially made of of lead in Brooklyn. Another 93,027 are made of “unknown material.”

In December last year, the Biden administration announced a plan to remove lead pipes nationwide, with a goal to do it within 10 years. However, he also said the pipes are “a clear and present danger to our children’s health.”

“LSLs have caused water crises and public health disasters across the US, most notably in Flint, Michigan and Newark, New Jersey,” Environmental Advocates NY said in a November state testimony on the lead poisoning crisis.

“Without state action to remove and replace 100% of LSLs, a water crisis similar to the magnitude of Flint and Newark may occur in our state as well.”

Dangers of lead piping

Service lines are pipes that carry drinking water from the water mains under city streets to the internal plumbing in homes and other buildings. When they are made of lead—popular in housing constructed before 1945—the lead in the pipes can leach into the drinking water.

Even low levels of exposure to the harmful neurotoxin can cause permanent damage to the human body, including decreased cognitive function, developmental delays, and behavioral problems for kids, heart and kidney disease, fetal miscarriages, and premature birth.

In 2018, more than 500,000 children in the U.S. had elevated levels of lead in their blood — 4,717 of whom live in NYC. 

The potential numbers of lead pipes in NYC. Photo: NYC Data

New York is estimated to have one of the highest totals of LSLs in the nation (360,000), and Brooklyn is estimated to have some of the highest numbers of lead service lines in the city.

It is difficult to calculate a precise figure, because many utilities do not know how many LSLs are in their system or where they are located, Environmental Advocates NY said. However the high numbers are unsurprising given New York’s older housing stock.

Plus, because most urban cores have high numbers of LSLs, low-income communities and communities of color are more likely to have an LSL serving their homes.

Brooklyn homeowners and residents who are unsure whether their water service lines contain lead can look up their property on this map.

Slow rollout of solutions

The process of replacing water piping to so many homes will take time and hundreds of millions of dollars.

First, a homeowner must determine whether their piping is made of lead, and what specific parts are lead. Then, the lead pipes need to be replaced, either through making a trench to replace old pipes, or through drilling in new pipes.

The cost of replacement of a full LSL (from the public main to the residence) is between $5,000 and $10,000, the state estimates.

Open trench pipe replacement (l) and no-trench replacement (r). Photo: Health NY

If the replacement plan takes many years, thousands more children could be put at risk of lead poisoning in Brooklyn. That’s why some companies are coming up with short-term solutions to the problem.

Brita is a water filtration company that partners with municipalities to provide residents living with lead piping in the meantime with pitchers that remove 99% of lead from drinking water.

To replace all the lead pipes and service lines in our drinking water systems, it’s estimated to take at least 15 years, Brita Director of Innovation & New Business Ventures Elana Rosenthal said.

Municipalities should utilize federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to provide the filters to lead-affected residents while they wait for replacement pipes, Rosenthal said.

“The continued lead issues across the country have saddled municipalities to address the issue for their citizens and businesses.

Photo: Pexels

“Clean drinking water is a fundamental human right and we’re committed to helping our nation’s water utilities navigate solutions for delivering lead-reduced drinking water as they wait on the long-term infrastructure fixes many of our communities so desperately need.”

In December last year, the federal Environmental Protection Agency said it will send $2.9 billion in 2022 to states, territories and tribes to replace lead pipes.

Meanwhile, Timbers said the DEP was anticipating a much larger LSL replacement program with federal guidelines and funding coming soon, although he did not have details on how much funding the city might get.

“We’re hoping to have more on that at some point this year, we are awaiting guidance from our partners at the federal level.”

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