Thu. Feb 13th, 2025
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Increase in lead levels leaves Syracuse residents frustrated

Maisa Young: It’s an epidemic. It’s an epidemic. They need to treat it like it was COVID. They need to fix it.

Caleb Jaramillo: Maisa Young is just one of many Syracuse residents who have expressed their concerns about lead pipes affecting the city’s drinking water. Many residents have signaled to the city to declare this issue a state of emergency, but Syracuse officials have not declared anything at this time. To address the situation, the Syracuse City School District has tested for lead in its buildings and is distributing Brita Elite water filters to families with children under six. To back the resident’s concerns, senior attorney Valerie Baron from the NRDC said that…

Valerie Baron: The city of Syracuse’s high lead levels in drinking water are especially concerning, because they compound long-standing, data-driven community concerns about their children who are already overburdened with high levels of toxic lead from multiple sources.

Jaramillo: The NRDC also released of Syracuse last week, showing where the highest levels of lead are across the city. The maps suggest lots of highly contaminated areas existing near parks and schools, where kids are easily vulnerable to lead inhalation. Many residents believe that Syracuse city officials aren’t treating this issue with enough urgency. Ms. Young believes that the city government’s priorities on other projects is leading to distrust within the community.

Maisa Young: They’re doing everything in their power for I-81. They need to siphon that money to get this issue straightened out. They’re worrying about a road and what’s separating different things. Instead of destroying neighborhoods, they need to fix this issue.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Ever since the middle of the summer, the concerns across Syracuse regarding the use of lead pipes have expontentially increased. Residents in Syracuse are becoming frustrated with how the lead pipes are affecting the ability to drink water from their households. Some residents are even considering bringing lawsuits towards the city government if nothing gets fixed in the near future.

“What will happen if it’s not addressed sooner than later is they’re going to have multiple lawsuits, which I’m hoping that people actually do that,” said Maisa Young, a high school teacher at George Fowler High. “They need to sue them because this is the health of an entire community”.

Many residents have signaled the city to declare the lead levels a state of emergency, but no declarations have been made at this time.

Side entrance sign of Syracuse city hall.
Many Syracuse residents believe that city officials are undermining the issue revolving around lead pipes. © 2024 Caleb Jaramillo

To address the situation, the Syracuse City School District has tested for lead in all of its buildings and has provided Brita Elite water filters to families with children under the age of six. The National Resources Defense Council also stepped in and has expressed some concerns for the city’s lead levels.

“The city of Syracuse’s high lead levels in drinking water are especially concerning, because they compound long-standing, data-driven community concerns about their children who are already overburdened with high levels of toxic lead from multiple sources,” said Valerie Baron, senior attorney at the NRDC.

The NRDC has published multiple articles within the past few months explaining how lead levels in Syracuse are becoming extremely dangerous, with the dectected lead levels in drinking water being higher than places such as Flint, Michigan and Newark, New Jersey. The organization also released a map last week highlighting where the lead water tap hot spots are around the city. Lots of the more volatile hot spots existed around parks and schools, where kids are easily vulnerable to lead inhalation.

Young thinks that the city government is too busy focused on other projects rather than prioritizing this usage of lead pipes.

“They’re doing everything in their power for I-81. They need to siphon that money to get this issue straigthened out,” said Young. “They’re worrying about a road and what’s separating different things. Instead of destroying neighborhoods, they need to fix this issue.”

In the meantime, residents and parents across communities are informing each other on where to get free blood lead testing. These tests are requested for anyone who might have had any sort of lead exposure to not just protect themselves, but their families as well.