[3] The lead levels exceeded the limit of 15 parts per billion set by the Safe Drinking Water Act.

[4] As a result, the EPA ordered the City of Newark to provide bottled water and filters to affected customers.

[16] In 2019, it was reported that in 2016 city officials in Newark were informed that the chemical, sodium silicate, that they added twenty years ago to prevent corrosion and the leaching of lead from service line pipes into the water had stopped working.

Water testing by the city showed elevated levels of lead at roughly half of the schools in Newark.

Additionally, city officials later admitted that some records of water tests were "lost" during the period of corruption at the NWCDC.

Lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma, and even death.

[19] Newark addresses the issue of elevated blood lead levels in children through several means, has been allotted and continues to seek grants from governmental and non-governmental sources.

[22] New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection mandated cities and towns to test the water supply twice a year.

[24] In February 2018, engineering company CDM Smith said in an email to the City of Newark stated their prevention of lead pipes dissolving into the water system "has not been effective".

[31] In February 2024, officials announced that they found three properties with faulty service line replacements by a then un-named third party.

[33] Mayor of Newark wrote a letter to the President of the United States Donald Trump, asking for federal assistance and funds to help repair and rebuild the water infrastructure.

[42] A November 2019 report released by the Newark city government said that "97.5% of the filters reduced lead to 10 parts-per-billion (ppb) or below.

As a result Newark and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection announced that they were going to audit all the lead line replacements in the entire city over several weeks.

[32] On October 3, 2024, United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger, announced that the company contracted to replace a portion of the lead service lines in Newark, JAS Group Enterprise, Inc. lied and falsified reports while not conducting the work they were hired to do at 1,500 Newark properties.

Mayor Baraka claimed the health of Newark residents isn't in danger due to the orthophosphate that was added to the water to prevent lead leaching and that it is working as intended.