The following is a statement released by the Honorable Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka amid a report produced by Advanced Media NJ.com who reported that building management at Eleven80, located at 1180 Raymond Blvd., sent an email to residents Friday afternoon warning them not to drink, cook, prepare baby formula or brush their teeth with the water.
**The mayor stated the following:**
"As a court reaffirmed yesterday, testing of the water in the Wanaque system has found that it continues to operate well within federal standards.
The City of Newark collected a water sample from the Eleven80 building on January 10, 2019, and found a lead level of less than 5 parts per billion, which is below the EPA's lead action level of 15 parts per billion.
It is important to note that all of our tests are analyzed at an outside lab to ensure independence.
The City did not perform the test recently conducted by a private company that was mentioned in news reports.
The City of Newark was onsite conducting additional testing today, and we will continue to test the system to ensure the quality of our water supply."
According to the NJ.com report, city officials confirmed the building received water from the Wanaque treatment plant, not the Pequannock plant that caused lead levels to rise across the western side of the city nearly three years ago.
NJ.com said Management at Eleven80 stated in an email to residents that they will be providing alternative drinking water to all of our residents at distribution points within the building.