NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The city announced on Saturday that the water at the Jacob Riis Houses, the public housing complex that has gone without water for over a week due to a positive arsenic test, is safe to drink.
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The lab that conducted the positive arsenic test retracted the results on Friday.
“I know the last eight days have been unbearable for the residents of Jacob Riis Houses, but, this morning, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reviewed the final test results for contaminants and found the water to be well within EPA drinking water quality standards,” said Mayor Eric Adams. “We can confidently say the water at Riis Houses is and has been free of any discernible amount of arsenic since the initial tests were initiated in August and meets EPA standards. I would not ask the residents of Riis Houses to do anything I wouldn’t do, which is why I have already stopped by Riis Houses and drank the water myself.”
The Adams administration also assured the public that the positive legionella test at the complex that was announced on Thursday does not pose a threat to public safety.
“We suspect these results are inaccurate. As public health experts have noted, Legionnaires Disease cannot be contracted by drinking water,” said Adams. “Additionally, we are actively reviewing our Legionella surveillance data, and have found no reported or confirmed cases of Legionnaires Disease at Riis Houses over the last 12 months.”
City Hall published all of the test data, including the initial incorrect results, in the name of transparency.
Adams also affirmed the city’s intent to pursue legal action against Environmental Monitoring and Technologies, the lab that reported the inaccurate test.
“As stated yesterday, NYCHA nor any other city agency will test water through Environmental Monitoring and Technologies any longer, and the city intends to pursue all available legal options on behwe alf of the residents of Riis Houses and will look for how we can reimburse residents for costs incurred over the last week,” he said.
The test that yielded the original false positive result for arsenic was initiated by NYCHA after tenants reported cloudy and discolored tap water in August.
The city says the water never had any issues, but residents have been complaining about cloudy water since January, one tenant told investigative news outlet The City.
Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala said bacteria testing conducted by the city should assure residents that their water is safe.
“Cloudy water happens and is not usually a sign of anything wrong, there might be some air trapped in a pipe somewhere, maybe somebody did a repair, maybe two people flushed the toilet at the same time. All of those things can create air bubbles,” he said. “Discoloration can sometimes mean that there was a little bit of rust in a pipe connection that got dislodged for some reason, a change in pressure. That too — usually discoloration means nothing is dangerous. It’s unpleasant but it’s not dangerous.”
It’s unclear what caused the discoloration and whether that issue has yet been resolved, though Health Department Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said on Thursday that NYCHA flushed the water system for cleaning.
"Our partners at NYCHA have taken steps since the initial reports of cloudy water to do sanitation and cleaning of the system. We've also flushed the system in that time as well,” said Vasan.
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