Errors by Syracuse city workers likely set off alarms about lead levels in water, officials say

Syracuse, N.Y. — The dramatic spike in Syracuse’s drinking water lead levels earlier this year could be a false alarm because city staff made mistakes and failed to follow test procedures, syracuse.com | The Post-Standard has learned.
Those mistakes included gathering samples from outdoor hoses, instead of following federal testing guidelines, officials told syracuse.com.
The city’s review of water testing conducted during the first half of 2024 found that department employees did not follow required sampling protocols, Chief Policy Officer Greg Loh said.
City officials believe this is a likely explanation for the elevated lead samples that drew national attention from media and environmental organizations.
Loh said two employees are now on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. He declined to identify the employees and said he could not discuss specifics of how testing protocols were not followed.
Onondaga County officials briefed by the city on Wednesday said the employees collected some water samples from garden hoses outside of homes instead of the EPA-required collection from drinking water taps, county spokesman Justin Sayles said. Public health officials say garden hoses are not safe to drink from because they can easily leach chemicals into the water, especially when exposed to warm sun.
The city in August reported historically high lead levels, with more than 25% of homes tested showing lead levels above the federal standard of 15 parts per billion. The average lead level among tested homes was more than 5 times the federal limit. Those tests took place in the first half of the year.
Subsequent testing in the second half of the year showed much lower levels.
In that second round, 115 properties fell below the 15 parts per billion level. Loh said resampling at 24 of the 27 properties with elevated levels in the first half of the year has resulted in just two above the action level.
“These findings further indicate that first half 2024 sampling results were outliers,” he said.
Before the city released new testing results, the Natural Resources Defense Council earlier this month issued a statement saying Syracuse’s lead samples were worse than those in the infamous Flint, Michigan, environmental disaster. That led to a coalition of community advocates calling for Syracuse to declare a state of emergency.
On Thursday, the NRDC officials were skeptical of the city’s explanation.
“The people of Syracuse need to know their water is safe to drink, but nothing released by city leaders today should give them any confidence,” said Valerie Baron, the organization’s national policy director and senior attorney. “Finding that the test samples were improperly taken by city employees from the wrong tap doesn’t prove that water is safe from lead. Just the opposite.”
Exposure to lead is a public health hazard, especially in young children. High lead levels can cause behavioral and health issues. In Syracuse, lead from paint chips and dust in older homes has been the bigger problem public health officials have been working to address, but work to deal with lead pipes is ongoing.
The lead doesn‘t come in from the city’s big water mains, but the individual lines that bring water from the street into each home, which are called service lines.
The city is working to replace more than 3,000 lead service lines in 2025, Mayor Ben Walsh said earlier this month. There are currently more than 14,000 such lines connecting properties to the city’s lead-free water mains. The EPA wants municipalities to have all lead pipes removed within 10 years.
Syracuse recently released an EPA-required lead pipe inventory, and posted an interactive map that shows where known lead service lines existing. Thousands of properties have an unknown status, however.
Generally, houses built before 1930 can have lead service lines.
Residents who have lead service lines can take steps to mitigate lead levels. Those include:
City reporter Jeremy Boyer can be reached at [email protected], (315) 657-5673, Twitter or Facebook.