Newark Water Crisis: City Takes Big Step To ‘Solve Own Problems’

NEWARK, NJ — An amended lease agreement with the Port Authority of NY/NJ will raise $155 million to help Newark fight its water woes, city officials announced.

On Tuesday, Mayor Ras Baraka hosted a press conference at City Hall to release details about a reworked deal with the Port Authority, which maintains several transportation facilities in the Brick City, including Newark Liberty International Airport and Port Newark.

Port Authority officials have agreed to give Newark an extra $5 million annually for the duration of the lease, which will run for 30 years. Newark already receives $110 million per year from the agency, CBS New York reported.

Newark will also get a $5 million upfront payment as part of the reworked lease agreement, Baraka said.

Baraka told CBS that city officials plan to “use as much of it as we can if not all” of the new funds for debt service towards a $120 million loan that Essex County recently helped it to secure. That loan is turbocharging the city’s efforts to replace about 18,000, privately owned lead service lines, the main suspected culprit behind the contamination.

• See related article: Essex County Helps Newark Nab $120M In Loans For Water Crisis
• See related article: Newark Replacing Lead Pipes In Homes; 800 Done, 17000 To Go

“We have been in talks with the Port Authority over our lease agreement and, clearly, this money comes at a fortuitous time for us,” Baraka stated.

The mayor said officials will also be able to add the new funds to the municipal budget to “support city services” or “make some capital improvements.”

“I’ve always said the ports and airport are assets for this city that we could better utilize,” Baraka added. “This money is another example of this city using its own resources to solve our own problems.”

• See related article: Here’s How To Get A Slice Of The $2.7B Pie At Newark Airport

Jeff Tittel of the New Jersey Sierra Club applauded the new funding influx, calling it a “step in the right direction.” But he added that there is still a “public health emergency” in Newark, as well as other cities across the state.

“This is not just happening in Newark, we have incidences of lead happening across the state in areas like Paterson, Camden, Morristown, and in 30 towns in Bergen County,” Tittel said. “We need a minimum of $2.3 to $8 billion statewide to fix our lead problem.”

Newark city officials are holding a “state of water” town hall at the Prudential Hall of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) on 1 Center Street at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

Catch up on some recent developments involving lead water contamination in Newark with the below stories (click headline to read article).

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Make Millionaires Pay For Clean Water In Newark, Candidates Say

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