City’s fix of one water problem likely created another. This one’s got a $75M price tag.

As Newark is in the midst of a hefty $75 million fix to address elevated lead levels in its drinking water, a new study probing how the lead problem came up in the first place has provided an unexpected answer.

When Newark officials made moves to reduce the amount of a different chemical contaminant in the city's water supply six years ago, they may have inadvertently caused lead levels to spike -- an issue that has been plaguing the drinking supply since 2017.

Last month officials said a study they commissioned concluded that the method used to prevent lead from leaching into the tap water stopped working. So, as water flowed through the distribution system, it corroded old lead pipes and caused lead to dissolve into the water.

But an NJ Advance Media review of the study found it also pointed to a key reason as to why the treatment, known as corrosion control, likely failed: In or around 2012, Newark changed the water's acidity levels, or pH, in order to avoid violating another federal standard, one that restricts levels of possibly carcinogenic chemicals that can form when water is disinfected. Experts say the altered pH likely made the water more corrosive -- and more likely to eat at the pipes, flaking lead into the supply.

In other words, the city's corrosion control didn't just stop working. Newark changed the chemical makeup of the water, which likely rendered the lead treatment less effective over time.

City spokesman Frank Baraff referred comment on the matter to Carol Rego, a corrosion expert at CDM Smith, the consulting firm that wrote the report. Rego said the city didn't have all the facts before now to "fully understand the cause of elevated lead levels and address them correctly."

In a written explanation, Rego said a misunderstanding of how the city's corrosion control worked meant officials could not have known that its pH adjustments would have these consequences.

She said the city's corrosion treatment, sodium silicate, is approved by the federal government and has been used for 20 years. The city believed silicate was the "main driver" in creating a protective layer to prevent lead pipes from leaching into the water.

But, this September when the pipes were analyzed, the city learned it wasn't the silicate that had coated the lead pipes all those years. Another compound -- that forms at higher pH levels -- was most likely protecting the water instead.

"This was a critical piece of information that ultimately shaped the city's plan for corrective action," Rego wrote in an emailed response forwarded by the city.

Lowering pH increases acidity and can make water more corrosive, outside experts told NJ Advance Media.

When a pH decreases, it can cause "the dissolution of lead that is on the piping to dissolve into the drinking water," said Ngai Yin Yip, an environmental engineering professor at Columbia University.

Water treatment plants are responsible for treating and distributing water to customers. That typically includes removing organic matter (like leaves and dirt) from the water, disinfecting it of bacteria and adding chemicals to reduce the water's corrosive properties and prevent lead from leaching into the water.

Newark serves 300,000 customers through two sources, the Pequannock Water Treatment Plant in West Milford and the Wanaque Water Treatment Plant. The pH levels decreased at Pequannock, which pumps water to areas of the city's North, Central, West and South wards -- the same areas that have lead issues.

The Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp., a nonprofit which dissolved in 2013, used to oversee water treatment for the city. During former Mayor Cory Booker's term, the nonprofit was rife with corruption and eventually declared bankruptcy. Newark's department of water and sewer took over treatment and distribution services in 2013.

Erik Olson, a representative of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is suing the city over its lead issues, said it was "entirely predictable" that lowering the pH would increase the water's corrosivity.

"That was going to have a profound effect on corrosion control and (the city) obviously took no steps to address that problem which is a serious issue," he said.

The state Department of Environmental Protection said it was reviewing its records to see what, if any, discussions state regulators had with Newark regarding lowering pH levels.

"Until 2017 Newark did not have any lead action level exceedances to indicate to DEP that there was a concern with Newark's water chemistry," the DEP said.

State DEP officials said lowering pH is one of the "common and accepted ways to adjust water chemistry" and comply with rules that limit the amount of disinfection byproducts. Those byproducts, formed when chemicals used to disinfect water combine with organic matter, can cause cancer if people are exposed to them for extended periods of time.

Though other alternatives exist to mitigate the amount of byproducts, Rego said for Newark, it would "require capital improvements, which take time to implement."

Newark recently violated the disinfection byproduct standard, reporting elevated levels of chemical byproducts in its water; Rego said the city is currently developing a plan to address it.

A 'widespread problem'

Tap water samples in the city have exceeded the federal action level for lead since January 2017 and the most recent six-month monitoring period shows continued spikes. About 45 percent of 133 samples taken since July exceeded 15 parts per billion, the federal action level for lead that requires additional precautions.

One July sample recorded lead levels at 250 parts per billion -- more than 16 times the federal action level, data show. Lead can cause brain and kidney damage and is particularly harmful for young children and pregnant women.

CDM Smith released its draft report to the city last month, which prompted officials to give away 40,000 water filters to affected residents. So far, more than 13,000 have been distributed.

Mayor Ras Baraka previously said it wasn't until he saw the report that he realized the city had a "widespread problem."

Officials are switching the water system's corrosion control treatment to orthophosphate that will be more effective. The new system should be up and running less than four months, they say.

The city also plans to replace between 15,000 and 18,000 lead service lines over the next eight years through a $75 million bond program. Residents will be responsible for paying up to $1,000 each to replace lines connecting to their homes.

That's about half of the pipes that connect underground water mains to individual homes in the city.

It's still unclear when corrosion control failed, but Rego said it likely stopped working before the city's lead levels spiked in 2017.

"The mechanism of knowing whether things are working right are these samples that are taken at people's homes. It's what is at the tap," Rego said.

Experts cautioned that water systems often have to comply with multiple federal standards simultaneously and changing one chemical to tackle a problem can inadvertently create another problem.

"The whole chemistry that happens when the drinking water passes through the distribution pipes, that is highly complex. You have tons of different chemical species in the drinking water and all these species reacts with one another and react with the pipes as well," Yip said.

Staff reporter Michael Sol Warren contributed to this report.

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

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