City of Newark Taking Action

Door hangers
Courtesy of the Department of Water and Sewer Utilities, City of Newark

Click Here to See the All the Door Hangers

From 2017 to 2019, Newark, New Jersey's water exceeded the federal limit for lead in drinking water. Distributing water filters and bottled water were only stopgap measures to address the problem. The solution was to replace all of the City’s 23,000 lead service lines (LSL). On August 26, 2019, Mayor Ras Baraka took decisive action, announcing that the swift removal of lead from the city’s drinking water would be a priority of his administration. He also announced that the City would provide citizens free water filters, water tests, and lead testing kits as they waited to have their lines removed and replaced. At the time, the City of Newark was asking property owners to contribute up to $1,000 of the cost.

Before Newark identified funds that allowed the work to take place free of charge for residents, these English and Portuguese door hangers (left) were distributed to Newark residents in 2019 at the launch of the LSL replacement program. It also provides information about obtaining free water filters.

The Spanish and English door hangers on the right remind people to pick-up free water filter replacement cartridges.