Lead in Newark drinking water: a successful community-driven data collection and academic-community partnership

ABSTRACT From 2017 to 2019, Newark, NJ exceeded the federal action level for lead in drinking water of 15 μg/L. We established an academic-community partnership to address residents’ concerns. We distributed 500 tap water sampling kits to residents with instructions on how to collect three sequential samples: first draw, and after 1 and 5 min of flushing the tap. Thirty-three percent (N = 165) of kits were returned and 411 samples analyzed. Lead was detected in all water samples (range: 0.01–685 μg/L). Thirty-seven percent of homes had at least one sample >1 μg/L; 17% had at least one sample >5 μg/L. The 90th percentile of lead for first draw, and after 1- and 5-min flush, were, respectively: 12.5, 7.96, and 4.51 μg/L. After a 5-min flush, only 25% of homes with first draw samples >1 µg/L were reduced to ≤1 µg/L, and 17% of homes with first draw samples above 5 μg/L were reduced to below 5 μg/L, fewer of those (16%) were reduced to <1 μg/L. Using a community science approach, we responded to residents' concerns about lead in drinking water. Additionally, we observed that common public health tap water flushing recommendations do not fully protect residents from lead in drinking water.