To Council Members, Public Advocate Williams:

The New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning (NYCCELP) has been advocating for an expedient and equitable replacement plan for lead service lines in New York City, including meeting with council members over the past few years and issuing a comprehensive report on the issue. That report, No Excuses, NYC: Replace Lead Drinking Water Pipes Now, documents the public health threat in NYC that the City needs to address. It explains why the federal lead rule is insufficient to solve the crisis; documents how other cities and states have stepped up to solve such crises; reveals how many lead and possible pipes there are in NYC and where they are located; and, sets forth a roadmap for solutions, including a model ordinance and available funding streams. NYCCELP has also been involved for decades in drafting and vetting legislation to address lead poisoning, including Local Law 1, and values our role in working with City Council on this issue.

Thus, we were shocked to learn of the introduction of Int. 942, which constitutes an abdication of government responsibility and penalizes low-wealth tenants and property owners, in direct contravention of best practices that have worked in other cities. Rather than solving the public health and equity threats of lead exposure from service lines, Int. 942 would worsen existing inequities, create inefficiencies, and be unnecessarily expensive—during an affordable housing crisis, no less. The approach in Int. 942 is so broken that an entirely different approach is needed. Like with a lead pipe, it should be replaced with something we know works. New York City has been a leader in this area before, and there are other excellent, proven approaches that would equitably reduce lead exposure for New York City residents.

Lead Exposure Is a Public Health Threat that Governments Have Tackled and Must Continue to Tackle

Lead is a poisonous heavy metal linked to significant adverse health effects in both children and adults. Experts agree that exposure to even a miniscule amount of lead presents risk. Lead exposure can decrease a child’s cognitive capacity, cause behavioral problems, and limit the ability to concentrate—all of which affects a child’s ability to learn in school. Recent studies also have shown that even low-level lead exposure may be responsible for nearly 10 times more adult deaths in the U.S. than previously thought, causing 400,000 deaths per year in the U.S. from cardiovascular disease. EPA modeling has shown that water can constitute 10-80% of U.S. children’s lead exposures with the highest levels for formula fed infants less than a year old. And the effects of lead on children are not spread evenly. Black and Hispanic children are more likely than white children to have lead in their blood, and children in low-income households have higher lead levels in their blood than those in higher-income households. Lead service lines are the biggest contributor of lead in drinking water.

The White House, states, and municipalities have risen to the moment and recognized lead pipes make drinking water unsafe and are a public health issue that warrants government action and solutions. Lead service lines are a legacy pollution issue with the last one installed in New York City in 1961, not an issue created by the current property owners or occupants. The lead industry waged a concentrated campaign in cities and states in the first half of the twentieth century to promote lead as the best material for service lines, and many municipalities responded by requiring or purchasing lead service lines for residents. Taking the public health issue and the history behind the use of lead service lines into account, cities like Newark, New Jersey, Denver, Colorado, and Benton Harbor, Michigan and states like Michigan and Minnesota have replaced or are replacing all of their lead service lines at no expense to homeowners. Whereas a few years ago, New York City led the way on lead in drinking water, creating an inventory of lead service lines ahead of its time, Int. 942 is bucking this trend and would codify some of the worst drinking water policy in the country into law.

Int. 942 Is an Unjust and Punitive Approach to a Public Health Threat

This bill, if enacted, completely absolves New York City of its responsibility to address this public health threat and treats lead service lines like a private issue for individual property owners to address, and to be punished if they cannot afford to replace them, cannot navigate complex permitting and construction requirements, or have a landlord who simply does not care. Int. 942 will not change the status quo—property owners who can afford and have the knowledge and wherewithal to replace lead service lines will replace them at their own expense. The only thing Int. 942 changes is to slap a $1000 penalty on owners that cannot or will not pay roughly $7000 to replace their line and to leave all the members of such households (including renters) stuck drinking water through a lead straw.

That roughly $7000 price tag is thanks to New York City’s backwards assertion about who has responsibility for replacing lead service lines. Unlike in other places and with other utilities where it is common for homeowners to have zero to partial responsibility for water distribution pipes, New York City is one of just a few places that claims (with no known legal basis) that private property owners own the entire water service line—even the part that runs through the middle of the street! And now New York City seeks to transfer the entire cost of replacement to property owners.

Forcing Property Owners to Pay for Service Line Replacement Will Exacerbate Existing Inequities

By transferring the burden of solving this public health threat from New York City to individual families, replacement will occur only in the homes and properties of wealthier people and exacerbate the health gap between communities. This is exactly what happened in Washington, D.C. When the District replaced service lines only if the homeowner paid, a disproportionate burden fell on Black and brown residents and people experiencing poverty. To this day, these residents have water distributed through lead service lines at higher rates than District residents who are white and wealthy. While Int. 942 mentions financial assistance for property owners whose incomes are below 50% of Area Median Income, this assistance is not guaranteed. Rather, it’s subject to appropriation and requires an application. Nor is the amount or timing of funds spelled out, which would leave property owners unable to gauge whether they might be able to afford replacement or must resign themselves to pay the less expensive $1000 fine. In sum, such assistance is subject to a program that has not been created and thus it is not possible to evaluate what impact it might have.

Sixty-nine percent of City residents are renters, more than double the national average. Yet Int. 942 entrusts landlords to decide whether their tenants should remain exposed to the biggest source of lead in drinking water. Landlords might consider replacing lead pipes if they think they can pass the cost of replacement along to their tenants through increased rent. But it is more likely, especially in low-wealth areas, that landlords will just opt to pay the fine. After all, if a landlord were inclined to replace lead service lines for the tenants, there is nothing stopping them from doing so now.

Int. 942 Will Create an Extraordinarily Inefficient and Expensive Method of Service Line Replacement

To the extent any property owners would replace their lead service lines under Int. 942, such replacement would be inefficient and unnecessarily expensive. There are at least 131,000 known lead pipes all around the city and that number is likely to increase as the city figures out which of the remaining 215,000 possible lead pipes in its system are confirmed to be lead. If the City were to take charge of replacing lead service lines – in coordination with the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) that routinely mills and paves roadways –it could ensure the replacement is done systematically—block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, maximizing efficiency, minimizing inconvenience, and reaping economies of scale. Indeed, in other places where lead pipes have been replaced successfully, costs have gone down over time. Contractors got better at doing the work, the community became more aware, and replacement became more efficient.

By contrast, Int. 942’s approach maximizes both disruption and expense. Individual property owners would decide when over the course of 10 years they want to replace their line, without coordination with their neighbors. Thus, a single block may be opened up multiple times over the ten-year replacement period, with each owner paying to dig up the street at different times. Having the road ripped up that often is also bad for both traffic and pedestrians, especially those with mobility challenges, and repaving the road often would be expensive for whoever has to pay, homeowners or NYC DOT. Processing the permit requests alone would be extremely expensive for the NYC DOT and take significant staff time.

Int. 942 also doesn’t ensure quality control. While property owners are required to file certificates with DEP that they’ve had their lead service lines replaced by a Licensed Master Plumber, some property owners may decide to risk a fine and hire less reputable contractors. This can result in the work being done poorly, incorrectly, without critical health safeguards, or at significantly inflated costs. We have seen in other places that when homeowners must arrange the work themselves, it creates opportunities for unscrupulous contractors to overcharge and creates a constituent services nightmare for legislators.

Int. 942 Fails to Prevent Lead Service Lines Being Replaced by Materials that also Present Significant Health Risks.

Int. 942 also allows for problematic materials to replace lead service lines. It states that lead service lines must be replaced with copper “or any other material approved by the commissioner.” Thus, the commissioner is permitted to approve replacement pipes made of PVC or other forms of plastic that, like lead, threaten human health and the environment.

New York City needs and deserves a better and more equitable solution to lead exposure from service lines than Int. 942 provides. NYCCELP included a draft model ordinance in our July 2023 report and is available to discuss a proposal that follows the principles in our report or to discuss the problem of lead service lines in New York City more generally.