Even as the COVID-19 pandemic rages through Newark, construction crews have continued working to replace thin tubes made of lead that pump water into peoples' homes.

Kareem Adeem is the director of the city's water and sewer department. He says the massive undertaking to replace all 18,000 lead service lines could have taken years but will be done by 2021.

"The city residents came together even during the COVID-19 period they cooperated with us," he said during a press conference on Thursday. "The contractors suited up with the masks, the Tyvek suits, the booties, everything to go in the house and replace the lead service lines."

Chunks of lead from these pipes were falling into the tap water because the water running through them was corrosive. The high lead levels prompted a federal lawsuit from the Natural Resources Defense Council and led to a mass distribution of water filters. That culminated last summer when the city was ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to distribute bottled water when the filters' effectiveness was questioned (the filters were then found to be 99 percent effective). 

Now Mayor Ras Baraka says for the first time in three years most of the city's tap water samples are below the federal threshold of 15 parts per billion — which requires cities to take action. He says it's a milestone after years in crisis.

"This is not our way of saying this is over," Baraka said Thursday as the city celebrated the lower lead levels. 

The state Department of Environmental Protection still has to review the city's water samples for Jan-June 2020. But Newark officials say the drop in lead shows its new water treatment that keeps the pipes from corroding is working.

State data show some homes still have elevated lead levels. And not all residents trust what the city says. Debra Salters says that's because officials insisted the water was safe to drink — when it wasn't.

"This would really give us trust, if [the administration] simply said we were wrong," Salters, who is part of the ongoing NRDC suit said. 

Newark still has another contaminant in its water: An acid that if consumed over time can cause cancer. Officials says that will be fixed soon, too.

The larger problem is the aging infrastructure at one of the city's water treatment plants. Improvements at the Pequannock plant that were recommended years ago are currently underway.