lead

There are an estimated half million lead service lines in use across NY, including thousands in Syracuse.

The city of Syracuse received a passing grade for amount of lead in drinking water. But the health standard gets tougher next year, and plenty of lead pipes need to be replaced to stop the problem.

The levels were taken from 100 homes with lead service earlier this year and found to be below the EPA cutoff line.

The Onondaga County Water Authority is taking inventory of all 106,000 water service lines in its service territory.

A recent tour of a home on the city’s east side provided many examples of what to look for.

The city says the ongoing claims are based on old, flawed data from improperly collected samples from 2023 and 2024 that showed high levels of lead. More recent 2025 results showed levels below EPA standards.

Families for Lead Freedom Now! and A Tiny Home for Good are collaborating on the two-family home, with a grant secured by Sen. Rachel May.

Common councilors are voting to hire a company called 120Water to take over water sampling programs.

The samples collected from August through October show lead levels under the EPA action level. Flawed test samples collected earlier in the year showed high lead levels, causing some to call for the city to declare a state of emergency.

City leaders say the advocates are using flawed sample results to make their case, while agreeing on the priority of replacing lead service lines.