Central Current reported this story with funding from the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York.Seven organizations demanded Wednesday that city officials do more to help families whose drinking water is contaminated by lead. The ask came on the heels of research by the National Resources Defense Council that found the levels of lead in drinking water in Syracuse to be more than double than those found in experts in Flint, Michigan during the city’s lead crisis. The NRDC obtained tests of water conducted in July in 104 Syracuse homes that showed that water in city pipes contains 70-parts-per-billion of lead, or nearly five times the federal threshold at the time. The contamination typically occurs due to degrading lead pipes often found in homes built prior to 1940, city officials say.The data also shows one staggering case: A home in the 100 block of May Avenue had 2,520 ppb of lead in its drinking water, according to data obtained by NRDC and shared with Central Current. Three other addresses showed levels surpassing 100 ppb of lead.“It is worse than Flint in Syracuse and I can say that very confidently,” said Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, the director of the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Racial Justice Center and one of the letter’s signatories. “We need this to be treated like it’s an emergency because it is.”Lead in drinking water, advocates say, compounds an already severe lead poisoning issue in the county, where recent testing results show that nearly one in every 10 children show elevated blood lead levels.   City officials say the July test results are outliers and that the city has worked to retest at least eight properties that tested above 15 ppb, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s threshold for replacement at the time. Further testing at seven of those eight properties showed the levels were below that.“Data does not support the conclusion of an emergency situation or comparisons to other U.S. cities,” said Greg Loh, a city spokesperson.The research released by the NRDC, a national environmental watchdog organization, shines a light on severe cases of lead contamination in the pipes of city homes during the latest round of testing in July. The city has around 14,000 total pipes, or service lines, that bring water to residents’ homes.The levels of lead in pipes at seven of the 104 properties sampled were more than five times the 15 ppb remediation threshold. At the time of the testing, 27 properties tested above the lead pipe replacement threshold. On Oct. 8, the EPA lowered that threshold from 15 ppb to 10 ppb. The EPA lowered the threshold in an effort to fully replace every lead pipe supplying drinking water in the country in the next decade. By the most recent standard, 30 properties would now cross that threshold. In their letter, advocates made several demands to local officials, including declaring a state of emergency that could free up more government funding for lead pipe replacements, being more transparent about testing, providing filters for affected residents, and promoting outreach and lead safety education campaigns to families battling lead poisoning. Advocates demanded a response from the city by Oct. 25.The city already plans to replace 3,000 lead service lines next year using $22.8 million in state funds, with more replacements expected year over year, Loh said.Declaring a state of emergency, advocates wrote in the letter, could help expedite funding. The EPA recently made $2.6 billion in newly available drinking water infrastructure funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, alongside another $35 million in competitive grants.The emergency declaration would also move the city toward explaining protective measures residents can take at home if they suspect their water is contaminated with lead. “We found that a lot of families are not even aware that they are potentially drinking water from lead pipes,” Owens-Chaplin said. “We think the onus should really be on the city to send out educational materials around what the impacts of lead are. This cannot fall on, once again, the people who are being harmed.”Advocates wrote in the letter that they want the city to explain how they will work on service line replacements, as well as make the lead service line inventory publicly available. The city should also incorporate the feedback of affected residents, they said. Loh said the inventory will be available to browse online soon but did not specify when.City officials have in the past said they will dig up and replace lead service lines clustered in neighborhoods that are already undergoing water main replacements and repaving projects. Additionally, they would also use an “equity score” to do replacements in historically underserved areas, according to a Syracuse.com article.So far, Owens-Chaplin said equity and giving priority to economically distressed areas already facing high rates of childhood lead poisoning are missing from the city’s plan.“You have pockets of the population, specifically in the South Side in predominantly black neighborhoods, where they have the triple threat,” Owens-Chaplin said. “They have the lead in the air from the Interstate-81 viaduct, they have the lead in their homes, and they have the lead in their water.”Owens-Chaplin said the city has not contacted the NRDC or the letters’ signatories as of Wednesday evening. Loh did not answer questions regarding whether the city would respond to advocates’ demands.The post Advocates demand Syracuse city officials declare state of emergency over lead in drinking water appeared first on Central Current.