Local nonprofit offers free lead testing, water filters for New Orleans residents
5th August 2024 · 0 Comments
By Safura Syed
Contributing Writer
(VeriteNews.org) — The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans is offering free lead and copper testing to Orleans Parish residents to help them find out how much of the potentially harmful chemicals are in their water. The organization, a nonprofit that educates people on water management and advocates for equitable water policies in the region, is conducting the survey to assess how many homes across the city have water contaminated by lead and copper.
The New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board says the water that leaves its facilities is free of lead. But aging pipes that have corroded over time can cause contaminants to seep into drinking water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The World Health Organization says this can have devastating effects on human health, especially in pregnant people and children. The Sewerage & Water Board is slated to complete an audit of New Orleans’ water system in October, in order to create a comprehensive map of where lead water pipes are located.. The Water Collaborative’s study will coincide with the publication of the S&WB’s analysis. Both will give residents a better understanding of the extent of the city’s lead contamination problem.
“We can’t do anything about improving water quality until we have data on what actually exists right now,” said Samantha Cooke, the Water Collaborative’s communications coordinator.
The study isn’t just about statistics, though. Community engagement is a core part of the testing process. Taya Fontenette, the Water Collaborative’s policy and research coordinator and the architect of the study, says education is a critical component of mitigating lead exposure.
“It’s important to be curious,” Fontenette said. “I think everyone should [ask the] question, ‘What is the quality of water that I’m drinking?’”
The testing process is designed to be as easy as possible for participants. Employees from the Water Collaborative collect five liters of water from a sink in the home, which allows them to test lead levels from interior plumbing and from water service lines. Residents must be present at the time of testing and cannot use any water six hours before testing to help the researchers get the most accurate results. Dawn Carl, a participant in the study, said the whole procedure took between 15 and 20 minutes.
“I think it’s a really great program,” Carl said. “Everybody should take advantage of it to find out if they have lead in their water so it can be fixed more quickly.”
Participants receive their results around three weeks after testing. After receiving results, participants answer a short survey and can choose to receive a free water filter or gift card.
The Sewerage & Water Board offers free lead testing kits as well, but residents have to collect their water and send kits back by mail before waiting six to eight weeks for results.
Adrienne Katner, an associate professor at Louisiana State University who studies water contamination, said she hopes the study will help people remain vigilant about what comes out of their faucet, including other contaminants like PFAS, while encouraging them to engage in low-cost fixes like at-home water filters.
“It’s easy to treat. It’s low-cost to treat,” Katner said. “There are solutions for that, and I think that is something we have to emphasize to peopled.”
The Water Collaborative said it wants to use data from the study to help the city protect residents from lead contamination. The city has already applied for $85 million in federal funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for its lead pipe audit and to replace lead pipes, which is required through new rules proposed by the EPA.
Residents of Orleans Parish who would like to get their water tested can go to: https://forms.gle/BcsjoQT8JzUNjqidA and fill out a form by early September to participate in the study.
This article originally published in the August 5, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
