The Big Picture on Newark's Water Crisis

The water crisis in Newark is only getting worse — or is it?

Last year, the city began handing out water filters to residents to address unsafe levels of lead in the tap water — but recent tests found that the filters aren't fully effective. Mayor Ras Baraka has said it may take a month of additional sampling to figure out why the filters aren't working as designed.

After the EPA requested it, the city began providing bottled water earlier this month, but only to homes considered most at risk.

Chris Sturm is the managing director of policy and water at the nonprofit New Jersey Future. She said while things may appear to be getting worse, that may could be a sign that actually, testing is getting more thorough.

"Lead levels spiked in late 2018 because hundreds of additional water samples were taken across the city. Which is a good thing." she told WNYC's Richard Hake. "Just two weeks ago the city did a lot of testing to see how things were going, including testing some water that was coming out of water filters. They took three tests, and disturbingly, two of those showed problems. Now the challenge is to get to the bottom of what's going on with the water filters."

Corrosion-control efforts in the city water are in place, and Sturm said they should take effect by the end of the year. Long term, however, she says the lead service lines need to be replaced with copper piping. 

"The good news is this is a problem that New Jersey can solve." she said. "American tap water that you can trust is a tradition, and we can get back there, but we've gotta take some bold moves and really look to the governor and legislature for leadership." 

Hear Chris Sturm's conversation with WNYC host Richard Hake above.