BLOOMFIELD

Lead levels too high in some Bloomfield homes, officials say

Bloomfield officials will continue monitoring water sources after 11.4 percent of homes sampled in the township exceeded the EPA limit for lead in drinking water.

Matt Kadosh
NorthJersey
  • Tests targeted highest risk locations
  • Boilerplate language to be sent to all homeowners

Samples from 35 homes in Bloomfield tested this autumn found water from four residences exceeded the federally allowable lead level of 15 parts per billion, township officials said.

Holding up a lead pipe, second from left, Bloomfield Health Officer Michael Fitzpatrick shows residents how they can know if they have leaded pipes. He is flanked by, from left, Township Engineer Paul Lasek, Mayor Michael Venezia and Township Administrator Matthew Watkins.

Three homes in the Brookdale section of the township and one in the Oak View section of the municipality exceeded the threshold for lead, said Bloomfield Township Engineer and Licensed Water Operator Paul Lasek.

When retested, two of the homes fell below the federal threshold, Lasek said. Owners of all the homes tested have been notified of the results, municipal officials said.

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The Bloomfield Health Department is offering a free testing of water in township homes. Residents can pick up and drop off bottles to sample water with at the Municipal Building, 1 Municipal Plaza, just off of Bloomfield Avenue, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has required Bloomfield notify its nearly 19,000 municipal water users of the violation via a form letter, the officials said.

After informing residents of the local water quality violation, the letter advises them that lead can "cause damage to the brain and kidneys and can interfere with the production of red blood cells."

In preparing for that mailing, set for next week, Bloomfield officials met on Thursday night to explain what the boilerplate language in the letter does not explain.

The sampling that New Jersey began mandating in 1991 targets locations most likely to have issues, said Dennis Yoder, an engineer retained by Bloomfield for the testing.

“It’s a first-draw, and it has to be after your water is sitting in your lines for six hours,” Yoder said. “This whole testing is intended to generate a worst-type of situation.”

That scenario could be when a resident wakes up in in the morning and turns on the faucet to brush her or his teeth, according to Yoder.

Bloomfield Health Officer Michael Fitzpatrick, who brought a soldered lead pipe to the forum for demonstration purposes, said that while the municipality does not distribute water through such pipes, homeowners could have lead pipes in their own residences.

“We do not have lead in our distribution piping, and therefore by running water for a minimum of 5 minutes from the time you want to consume water to the time you actually do consume water, you will clear lead,” Fitzpatrick said.

The 5-minutes rule is typically applied to residences, where a street-level pipe contains lead, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, which provides more specific guidance on how to best manage lead in water.

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Sources of lead in drinking water can include copper pipe with lead solder made or installed before 1986, faucets inside homes, galvanized pipes in homes, lead service lines and lead goosenecks, or shorter pipes leading to the lines, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Town must test more

With the test results comes a mandate for more testing and more required notices, Township Administrator Matthew Watkins said.

“We’re going to test 60 spots every quarter for the next year,” Watkins said. “And we’re also going to test the water coming in for lead.”

As with neighboring Belleville, Nutley and East Orange, Bloomfield buys its water from the City of Newark, according to the DEP.

New gauges installed as part of an approximately $3.1 million overhaul of Bloomfield’s water system will allow testing at the source, officials have said.

While the letters will come from the Bloomfield Engineering Department, Watkins said, the municipality has no say in the language used.

The letter, which was available at the meeting, provides a link to the test results on the DEP's Drinking Water Watch website.

Elizabeth Zalme, 34, of Bloomfield’s Park Avenue, was among the approximately eight residents who turned out for the information session on Thursday night. She is both a mother and a registered environmental health specialist.

“Finding out how the sampling was done, and that it was more of a household issue and not a source issue, it was actually reassuring,” Zalme said.

Email: kadosh@northjersey.com

Bloomfield Water Department tips

  • Let tap water run on cold for 15 to 30 seconds before using it for drinking or cooking any time the water in a faucet has gone unused for more than six hours. The longer the water resides in plumbing, the more lead it may contain
  • Use cold water for cooking and preparing baby formula. Do not cook with or drink water from the hot water tap. Hot water can dissolve lead more quickly than cold water
  • Do not boil water to remove lead. Boiling water will not reduce lead.
  • You may want to consider using bottled water or filtering your water
  • Get your child tested. Contact the Bloomfield Health Department or your healthcare provider to find out how you can get your child tested for lead if you are concerned about lead exposure
  • Anyone with questions on the water testing program may call the Bloomfield Health Department at 973-680-4024
  • To report water quality concerns, call the Bloomfield Water Department at 973-680-4009.