Tap water samples for the first six months of 2020 show there's significantly less lead in Newark's tap water. There is no safe level of lead, but the federal regulations requires cities to take action if more than 10 percent of samples exceed certain lead levels.

The lead reductions are largely due to a new treatment that began last year that coats old lead pipes and keeps them from dissolving into the drinking water.

Newark is also replacing those old lead service lines and has replaced nearly two-thirds of all 18,000 of them. The state has yet to certify the city's samples and residents should still filter their water if their service-lines haven't been replaced.