Samples show no arsenic in water at Jacob Riis Houses despite sick residents: NYCHA
LOWER EAST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- There are growing concerns about the drinking water at a housing project in Manhattan, after a resident says she ended up in the hospital with symptoms of arsenic poisoning.
New York City officials insist there's no water problem at NYCHA's Jacob Riis houses on the Lower East Side, just as they insisted there was no water poisoning two years ago.
Eyewitness News got an exclusive, firsthand look inside the Jacob Riis Houses Community Center as Mayor Eric Adams stopped by Tuesday afternoon. In an attempt to assure residents that there was no arsenic in the water, he chugged a glass of water straight from the tap.
"I love New York City water," Adams said.
He also assured Tenant Association President Daphne Williams, who pointed out that drinking the water and testing it are two different things, that there will be more communication from NYCHA for anxious residents
"Let's do what we did the last time there was a concern about arsenic," Mayor Adams said. "Which turned out to be faulty testing that we addressed. Let's bring in NYCHA to answer the questions that tenants have. This way we don't have to guess. They're the professionals. I'm not the professionals. We'll bring them in. That's what we did the last time. It brought down the level of anxiety."
The level of anxiety was high here two years ago, after what the city said was a lab error showing an unsafe level of arsenic.
The scare led the city to bring in bottled water.
"There is not and was never any arsenic in the water supply at Riis Houses," a NYCHA spokesperson said in a statement. "NYCHA tested over 500 water samples and they all met the water quality standard for arsenic and conclusively show that there is no water quality concern in the drinking water at Riis Houses."
Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer said the last of those tests happened as recently as last month.
The assurance from the city came Tuesday, because anxiety is high again as several Riis residents, including Sheletha Hill, have been dealing with symptoms consistent with high-arsenic levels.
As Politico first reported, Hill's blood and urine tests back in March showed a dangerous level of it.
"Everybody was alarmed and worried because 117 is not the normal range" Hill said. "And I think that, as they put it, was like double"
But in the last few years, she's only used bottled water at home for drinking and cooking. She was brushing her teeth and showering with the tap water. Her doctors produced a note asking her landlord, NYCHA, to test the water in her apartment.
"Nobody responded," she said. "I'm still waiting for somebody to come into this apartment to literally test the water."
The city says the water in Hill's apartment is the same water that's in the rest of the complex. Her apartment also underwent asbestos remediation and there were leaks that produced mold in the building that she suspects are also causing health issues. But her high arsenic level has Hill and her neighbors with similar symptoms trying to get more answers about environmental toxins.
The mayor is now promising more transparency from NYCHA.
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