Panel looks for solutions to lead problem in Essex County – NorthJersey.com

With elevated levels of lead in water plaguing a number of Essex County towns including Bloomfield, Belleville, Nutley and Newark, Rep. Mikie Sherrill held a panel to hear about innovative solutions to the problem. 

Since at least 2017, these towns have dealt with lead in the water, with the water coming through the Pequannock Water System. Bloomfield, Belleville and Nutley all purchase their water through Newark.

A corrosion control chemical used by Newark is contributing to the problem by causing the lead to leach from plumbing. Newark began adding it to the water around 2015 to help improve drinking water.

Entrepreneurs and inventors were among those pitching solutions on Tuesday.

Michael Ramos, the chief engineer at Chicago public schools, spoke Tuesday about a device he invented that can flush pipes every three hours, preventing stagnation of water and the collection of lead and allowing for the continual distribution of a substance that prevents lead from leaching into the system. Ramos created the device to flush his own home’s pipes before adapting it to fit school buildings, after Chicago schools recorded elevated lead levels in water fountains. 

Ramos said that during two pilot programs, started three years ago, the detectable lead content of the water dropped below 1 part per billion. The federally acceptable level is 15 parts per billion. He suggested a similar pilot program could be started in Newark.

Eric Roy, a chemist, initially began distributing lead filters to Flint, Michigan, as a charitable effort. Hisefforts eventually morphed into a company called Hydroviv, which was funded through the television show “Shark Tank.” Hydroviv takes water quality information from local, state and federal databases to create a personalized filtration system for each situation.

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Marc Edwards, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, said public trust in the government to handle a crisis like lead in water has eroded after they were told they were protected and then found they weren’t. Edwards has testified about similar problems before in Washington, D.C., and Flint.

He said that the current language of there being no safe level of lead at all is impeding a solution and increasing the public’s dependence on filters and bottled water.

During the first half of the panel discussion, Nutley Mayor Joseph Scarpelli, Bloomfield Mayor Michael Venezia and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo provided first-hand testimony to the crisis facing their towns and county.

Among of the biggest constraints for towns has been the astronomical cost of locating and replacing lead service lines. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection estimated the total cost for funding lead line replacements for the entire state at $2.3 billion, Sherrill said. The department’s entire budget for 2018 was $214 million.

“It’s agonizing for everyone when we see a desperate need for improvement in a public good, but that need comes with a high price tag and slow timeline,” said Sherrill, a first-term congresswoman from Montclair.

Bloomfield is in the midst of changing its water supplier from Newark to the North Jersey Water Supply Commission and will be spending $6 million to replace aging water meters, a process Venezia said will help give the township an accurate account of lead lines. They recently secured a $1.1 million loan from the state to replace service lines 

“But we need help,” Venezia said. “It took months to get that funding.”

Essex County has extended its AAA credit rating to Bloomfield, Nutley, Belleville and Newark to help replace lead service lines. So far, Newark has been the only city to accept the help, with $120 million being bonded, to be repaid over the next 30 years, DiVincenzo said.  

For Nutley, 236 homes receive water from Newark and Scarpelli said they have begun to replace the lines and research new ways to detect lead lines without digging up the street and homeowner yards as well as new anti-corrosion chemicals as cost-effective treatment of the pipes.

The panel also included three guests, Rep. Donald Payne Jr., who represents parts of Essex, Hudson and Union counties, Rep. Donald Beyers of Virginia, and Rep. Jennifer Wexton of Virginia.

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