Study confirms NYC park drinking fountains are safe
By Anthony Catalano, Steve Lauria, and Evan Trumpatori
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) operates approximately 3,500 drinking fountains on its properties. While the city’s public water is tested more than 600,000 times at various points in the system each year to assure quality water is being delivered to users, each fountain’s plumbing fixtures are susceptible to causing elevated levels of lead. So, when Mayor Bill de Blasio launched LeadFreeNYC—an initiative to test for and remove lead from city buildings and infrastructure—NYC Parks set out on an ambitious campaign to test all of its drinking fountains.
“The Mayor’s LeadFreeNYC program ensures our children are safe whether they are at home, at school, or in our parks; and by testing all of our drinking fountains and putting a plan in place for annual testing, we are doing our part so that our water remains safe,” says NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP. “The health and welfare of our city’s children is of the utmost importance.”
The drinking fountains were not a known source of lead exposure, but the city’s Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot says, “This testing program will ensure that we leave no stone unturned in our citywide efforts to eliminate childhood lead exposure.”