By Karen Yi | NJ Advance Media

Newark and the water group suing it may be fighting in court, but there's one thing both sides agree on: Residents need to understand the importance of lead-contaminated water and what to do about it.

For the third consecutive six-month period, the city of Newark reported elevated levels of lead in its tap water in 12 percent of its samples, state data show.

No one is surprised by the results.

"We have identified that there's an issue and we're trying to address it," Tiffany Stewart, legal counsel for the city's water and sewer department said. Newark officials have insisted the water from its reservoirs is safe to drink and that the city's old infrastructure and 15,000 lead service lines -- which connect from the water mains to each property -- are causing the spikes.

The city's lead service line inventory, obtained through a public records request, shows some pipes some date to the 1880s.

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(Courtesy: City of Newark)

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which sued the city in June for violating state and federal regulations with its "dangerously" high levels of lead in its drinking water, said it was disappointed the city had not done more to alleviate the problem.

"This is now this is a public health crisis that has been ongoing for at least 18 months," NRDC attorney Sara Imperiale said of the latest lead results. "There's a sense of frustration that we've been trying to work with the city for a year at this point, talking about the steps they need to take."

"Not only are we seeing continued high levels but we're seeing outrageous spikes," she added.

Lead is measured in parts per billion; although no amount of lead in water is safe, lead concentration should not exceed the federal action level of 15 parts per billion. In Newark, one sampled site in June came back at 182 parts per billion -- about 12 times acceptable levels.

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BREAKING: The lead levels in Newark’s drinking water are shockingly high and put residents at risk. Today, @NRDC and the @NEWCaucus sued the City of Newark, as well as city and state officials over their failure to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act. https://t.co/B3blGMoXar pic.twitter.com/bYTCpIcsko — NRDC 🌎 (@NRDC) June 26, 2018

The City Council this month approved a $75 million bond program to replace the city's lead service lines through a 10-phase, eight year program. The city does not own the 34,000 service lines that connect the water supply to homes, which means residents are responsible to pay to replace the lines on their property, officials say.

The council also approved an application to the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank to reimburse the city for 90 percent of the replacements costs. That means residents will only pay the remaining 10 percent of costs, a maximum of $1,000.

"We understand that it's a significant cost to those homeowners," Stewart said at a recent council meeting. "Currently the law doesn't allow municipal funds to be used for private property. This is why we have to get the owners' permission to enter the property and replace the lead service line."

Kareen Adeem, assistant director of public works, said the city sent out letters to about 3,100 residents in the hopes of getting 1,500 to sign on to phase one of the program. So far about 700 residents had agreed to do so, he said.

Adeem said it's been a challenge convincing residents to agree to have their lead service lines replaced and pay 10 percent of the costs -- even on no-interest payment plans.

"What we're trying to do is (get) them to understand and see that as a priority," he said.

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There are more than 18,000 properties in Newark with lead service lines. Search an address in the chart above to see if it has a lead service line.

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But Imperiale said it wasn't fair for residents to have to pay.

"Homeowners should not have to foot the bill for the city's failure to treat the water," she said. "The lead service lines are only a problem because the city has not done what they are supposed to in making sure the water is not corrosive."

Corrosion water treatment was supposed to be in place by 1997, but Imperiale said there's no evidence that the city ever met this requirement. If water has corrosive properties, it's more likely to cause the material on lead pipes to leak into the water.

The city has refuted these claims and said it does have a corrosion control plan but many records are missing after the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp., that managed water treatment, went bankrupt amid corruption.

Al Moussab, chair of Newark Education Workers Caucus, which is also a party suing the city, said there needed to be more of an effort to inform residents.

"We're realizing that there needs to be a stronger push for educating the residents. There hasn't been a robocall since the one that came out around the lawsuit saying the water is safe," he said.

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Read more

The group that sued Flint, Mich. over lead water is about to do the same thing in Jersey

Getting lead out of Newark's tap water? That'll take $60M, and 8 years

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.