Newark Divided Over City's Response To Water Crisis (VIDEOS)

NEWARK, NJ — Newark officials held a “State of Water” town hall on Wednesday evening, providing an update on the city’s ongoing struggle with lead water contamination.

The event at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) saw an on-the-ground protest from members of the Newark Water Coalition, a local group of environmental activists who have been pressuring city officials for more action. (Read more about the protest below)

Mayor Ras Baraka led a panel discussion about the city’s efforts to replace nearly 18,000 lead service lines in local homes – the suspected source of the contamination.

“The City of Newark is committed to ensuring all of our residents have access to clean, safe water,” Baraka said, touting the city’s “first-of-its-kind initiative” to replace the privately owned lead service lines at no cost to residents.

• See related article: Newark Replacing Lead Pipes In Homes; 800 Done, 17000 To Go
• See related article: Newark Law Would Force Homeowners To Replace Lead Pipes

Meanwhile, the city continues to hand out free water filters and replacement cartridges to residents in the Pequannock service area. More than 38,000 filters and 31,000 replacement cartridges have been distributed to residents, officials said.

After an earlier warning from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the filters may not be working as expected, a new round of testing revealed the opposite, showing that when used in combination with flushing, 99 percent of the filters reduce lead below 10 ppb, which is under the EPA’s action level of 15 parts-per-billion.

• See related article: Water Filters Are Working In Newark, Officials Say

Speakers at the event included Chris Sturm of nonprofit advocacy group New Jersey Future, which released a study on lead service lines across the state on Wednesday.

Sturm said Newark has made tremendous progress in a short period of time.

“Our political leaders can look to Newark as a model that municipalities across the nation facing similar challenges can learn from,” he said.

Another panelist, President and CEO of University Hospital Shereef Elnahal, pointed out that the risks posed by lead-based paint are also worth attention.

“Research shows that lead-based paint in homes built before 1978 remains the largest contributor to elevated blood lead levels in children,” Elnahal said.

However, Elnahal added that lead service lines pose a particular risk to powder formula-fed infants if tap water is used, and may also pose a risk to children under the age of 6 and women who are pregnant.

Wednesday’s Town Hall event also included an on-site health fair with free filters and demonstrations on how to change the cartridges, as well as free lead testing via the Department of Health and Community Wellness’ mobile van.

Story continues below video (NJTV News)

PROTESTERS: ‘AN INSANE WORLD’

About a dozen members of the Newark Water Coalition also showed up at Wednesday’s town hall.

During a panel discussion, members of the group began protesting about what they later called “propaganda” on the part of the panelists. At first, Baraka attempted to ignore them. But he eventually acknowledged their presence, telling the audience that “these people don’t want you to have the right information.”

A few minutes later, Newark police officers escorted them out of the building. None of the protesters were arrested, a police spokesperson told Patch.

Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said officers showed “remarkable restraint” during the incident, even though some of the protesters called them “pigs” and allegedly tried to bait them into committing “police brutality.”

Ambrose pointed out that the group was the same one that spearheaded a clean water protest at the recent MTV Video Music Awards, which was held for the first time in New Jersey.

• See related article: Protest For Clean Water Ignites Outside MTV Awards In Newark

“It was clear to anyone watching that these protestors were trying hard to incite our officers,” Ambrose said.

However, the Newark Water Coalition painted a very different portrait of the encounter in a series of Twitter and Facebook posts.

Seen online:

• “You know you live in an insane world when you organize to get clean water for your community and the response [the] city has is to push police on our bodies… Black, brown, indigenous peoples seeking clean water and accountability get branded as alarmists while being traumatized and threatened.”
• “So many of us didn’t have a clue that asking and ultimately demanding clean water for our communities would brand us as anything other than concerned citizens seeking a human right to clean water.”
• “Mayor’s State of the Water Narrative at NJPAC was front-loaded with seniors he bused into the event and poorly attended with many empty seats.”
• “There’s a panel patting themselves on their backs for ‘work’ they have done in dealing with #NewarkWaterCrisis… Two hours of #propaganda packaged as an informational session on the lead issue to a room full of folks clapping… must be the lead.”
• “At NJPAC listening to the mayor defend himself his actions and claiming we are alarmists who are attacking ‘his city’… we were born and raised here, too.”

After being thrown out of the building, activists posted a video online, commenting that “the only thing missing was dogs and firehoses.”

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