City releases map showing major service lines as homeowners are notified

SYRACUSE, New York – Syracuse released new data showing drinking water meets EPA lead levels based on test results for the second half of this year.

The new sample was taken from 131 homes with leading service lines. Only five homes exceeded the EPA’s action level of 15 parts per billion.

The new findings were released after neighbors received a letter in the mail indicating whether they had wires or not. In some cases, they are told the city doesn’t know, and homeowners can take action to find out.

The Environmental Protection Agency gives cities ten years to replace all lead water pipes. The city of Syracuse plans to do this in half the time.

Oceanna Fair’s lead advocate said Newark, New Jersey, has replaced its leading service lines in three years and believes Syracuse can do the same.

They can follow the plans of cities that existed before us. They went through this process. We can borrow from this and speed up the process, but at the moment it is political will.

Syracuse released map showing houses that he knows have leading lines of communication, as well as those that do not, as well as those that they do not know about.

To find out the rest, the city encourages all homeowners to take this test:

Find the water meter and use a coin or wrench to scratch the pipe until you can see the metal underneath. Use a magnet on the refrigerator. If it sticks, then the pipe is not lead. If it doesn’t stick, it may be lead.

The city wants homeowners to upload photos to syr.gov/lead-free-syracuse The Water Resources Department will contact you with the results.

Fair is urging neighbors to do this test since her home was unknown, but wants the city to replace those pipes faster.

“Our children are our future. Our children now live in extreme poverty because their parents suffered lead poisoning. Now they are poisoned with lead. This affects their cognitive abilities; it affects their ability to finish school.”

Next year, the Environmental Protection Agency will lower the threshold for lead levels in municipal water. Before that, advocates say they want the city to declare a state of emergency. City leaders insist the water is safe and reject those calls.