As Troy Mayor Patrick Madden prepares to leave office, the Democrat is urging residents to test their water services lines for lead.
Madden is hoping half of the city’s waterlines will be inventoried by the time his term ends New Year’s Day in order to identify those contaminated with lead.
Exposure to the element has been linked to several harmful health effects, including developmental delays in children. Term limited after eight years, Madden will be replaced by Republican Mayor-elect Carmella Mantello.
Earlier this year, residents and other officials questioned why $500,000 in state funding had not been spent to replace impacted lines on news that dozens of lines checked in 2022 came back with elevated lead levels.
City Hall has since taken steps to provide financial assistance to replace lead lines on private property. In February, Madden told WAMC that the city hadn’t spent the money because the funding would only be a drop in the bucket to fix the problem.
“We are committed to assisting everyone in getting the lead out of their homes and that will be an enormous investment for the City of Troy. If we were to pay for all of them, for everybody that needs one done, it would be in excess of $22 million,” said Madden.
Now, Madden says resources are available on the city website, but many residents are still unaware of the potential danger of the service lines. Residents can find literature, a survey, and contact information there.
Speaking with WAMC on Thursday, Madden says Troy is looking at non-traditional ways to spread the word given the low response rate from a city with roughly 50,000 residents.
“We have looked and acted conventionally. We put notices in water bills, we've done individual mailings, we've had press conferences, we've attended community events,” Madden said. “We've certainly had a lot of press coverage. And I think the result is, it’s not where I want it to be. But the fact that other communities aren't even close to 45 percent is a testament to the work that that the staff has done here.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Lead Pipe Right to Know act last week, requiring water utilities follow state Department of Health guidance as they create inventories of lead pipes in their service areas. The DOH will then use that data to create an interactive map of lead service lines.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are nearly half-a-million lead drinking water pipes still in use in New York.
Madden says reaching the next 50 percent will be even tougher.
“It just gets increasingly more difficult to reach the people that aren't tied in to the to the common ways of getting their information,” Madden said.
During her campaign, Mantello made sure to highlight the importance of protecting residents from contamination, vowing to replace all lead pipes in her first term.
“It's ambitious, but it can be done and what we will do is aggressively seek federal and state dollars to implement that program,” she said.
Madden wants residents to know how they can protect themselves.
"Run the water if your water has not been used in six hours, for instance, overnight, or if you go to work, you come home six hours, your water hasn't run, it means the water has sat stationary in the lead pipes for a long period of time,” he said. “That increases the likelihood that lead will leach into your water. So if your plumbing has sat still for several hours, just run it, run it until it's cold, and then, you know, a half a minute after that, and then you've got fresh water that's coming out."
Madden says he should know: his own lines are contaminated. He adds that running the water doesn't have to be wasteful.
"Use water for other purposes, watering plants, washing the cat, whatever you want to do," Madden said. "And either use a pitcher or use fresh water for drinking purposes for consumption."
Mantello will be sworn in Monday.
