>>> WELL, WE MENTIONED THIS A MINUTE AGO, BUT OVER THE WEEKEND
"THE NEW YORK TIMES" REPORTED ON
A LONG LINE OF QUESTIONABLE
DECISIONS THAT LED TO THE
CURRENT WATER CRISIS IN NEWARK.
OUR GUEST NICK SHARED A BY LINE
ON THE STORY.
IT READS, QUOTE, AN
INVESTIGATION BY "THE NEW YORK
TIMES" BASED ON DOZENS OF
INTERVIEWS AND HUNDREDS OF PAGES
OF PUBLIC RECORDS REVEALS
BLUNDERS AT ALL LEVELS OF
GOVERNMENT IN SAFEGUARDING
NEWARK’S WATER INFRASTRUCTURE.
CITY OFFICIALS BRUSHED ASIDE
WARNINGS AND ALLOWED THE SYSTEM
TO DETERIORATE WHILE STATE AND
FEDERAL REGULATORS DID NOT
INTERVENE FORCEFULLY ENOUGH TO
HELP PREVENT THE CRISIS.
>>> TILL WITH US, NICK AND
DR. JOHN TORRES.
NICK, SO TAKE US THROUGH THIS
BECAUSE THE POLITICAL RESPONSE
FROM THE CITY OF NEWARK
INITIALLY WHEN THERE WERE
INDICATIONS BEGAN EMERGING WAS
ESSENTIALLY THERE’S NO CRISIS
HERE.
HERE. AND YOU ALSO UNCOVERED
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING WHAT
APPARENTLY HAPPENED TO TRIGGER
THIS CRISIS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
>> YEAH, IF YOU WERE TO GO BACK
TO 2015, IT APPEARS THAT THAT’S
WHEN THE CITY STARTED TINKERING
WITH ITS WATER A LITTLE BIT TO
DEAL WITH A PROBLEM WITH
CARCINOGENS, AND TO DO THAT THEY
STARTED MAKING THEIR WATER
SLIGHTLY MORE ACIDIC.
NOW, WHAT THAT DID WAS FOR 20
YEARS NEWARK HAS BEEN COMBATTING
LEAD.
LEAD. IT HAS THESE ANCIENT OLD PIPES
AND USING SODIUM SILICATE TO
PREVENT THE LEAD FROM REACHING
THE WATER.
THE WATER. WHEN THEY MADE THE WATER ACIDIC
TO DEAL WITH ONE PROBLEM THEY
RENDERED THE SODIUM SILICATE
INEFFECTIVE.
INEFFECTIVE. THEY NEVER DID A TEST BEFORE
DOING THAT.
DOING THAT. THE STATE WAS UNAWARE THEY WERE
DOING THIS.
DOING THIS. CITY OFFICIALS COULDN’T PRODUCE
ANY TESTS THAT SHOWED WHEN THEY
WERE LOOKING TO CHANGE THE
ACIDITY, THEY WONDERED WHAT
OTHER IMPACT IT MIGHT HAVE ON
THE WATER.
THE WATER. THAT’S WHAT STARTED SNOWBALLING
THE EFFECT FROM OUR REPORT THAT
BROUGHT US TO 2017 WHEN THE
FIRST LEAD LEVEL EXCEEDENCE
FIRST CAME TO NEWARK.
THAT CAME TO JUNE, JULY OF 2017,
AND THE MAYOR WAS BASICALLY, HIS
ENTIRE MESSAGE WAS THE WATER IS
COMPLETELY SAFE TO DRINK.
DON’T WORRY HERE.
THERE WERE LEGAL THINGS THE CITY
HAD TO DO, TESTING, MAIL ANYONE
WHOSE HOUSE TURNED TO POSITIVE
TESTS.
TESTS. THOSE ARE RANDOM SAMPLES YOU
DON’T EXTRAPOLATE FROM.
18 MONTHS THE ENTIRE MESSAGE
FROM THE CITY WAS THESE ARE
OUTRAGEOUSLY FALSE STATEMENTS
COMING IN ABOUT OUR WATER AND
THE WATER IS ABSOLUTELY SAFE TO
DRINK.
DRINK. WHEN YOU WERE IN ONE OF THOSE
1400, 1500 HOUSEHOLDS GETTING
ELEVATED LEAD LEVELS OF THE
WATER FROM THE LEAD LEACHING TO
THE PIPES, THAT WAS NOT TRUE.
THE MAYOR WAS TRYING TO SAY THE
WATER SOURCE FROM THE RESERVOIR
WAS NOT CONTAMINATED.
THAT WAS TRUE.
BUT WHAT WAS COMING OUT OF THEIR
FAUCETS, THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT
AMOUNT WHERE THE WATER WAS NOT
SAFE TO DRINK.
>> YOU KNOW, DR. TORRES, WHEN
YOU READ NICK’S STORY AND YOU
THINK ABOUT HOW BIG THIS COUNTRY
IS AND HOW COMMON POLITICAL
DYSFUNCTION IS, AND YOU HAVE ALL
THESE INTER MINGLING OF AGENCIES
AT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF
GOVERNMENT, WE’VE SEEN IT IN
FLINT, WE’VE SEEN IT IN NEWARK.
ARE WE LIKELY TO SEE THIS IN
OTHER PLACES?
OTHER PLACES? >> STEVE, I THINK WE ARE BECAUSE
THE INFRASTRUCTURE IN THIS
COUNTRY HAS AGED.
IT HAS A HARD PROBLEM OF TRYING
TO GET THAT UP TO DATE AND
MODERNIZED.
MODERNIZED. LIKE YOU SAID, 1986 IS WHEN THE
STANDARD CAME OUT SAYING
ANYTHING AFTER 1986 YOU CANNOT
HAVE LEAD PIPES IN THE HOUSE.
WHAT THE EPA SAYS, HOUSES BUILT
BEFORE 1986 MORE THAN LIKELY HAS
LEAD PIPES OR LEAD SOLDER TO
JOIN THE PIPES TOGETHER THAT
COULD BE LEACHING LEAD.
THOSE ARE HOUSES THAT NEED TO BE
TESTED.
TESTED. DIFFERENT SOURCES ARE SAYING
THERE COULD BE HUNDREDS OF
CITIES OUT THERE THAT HAVE
SIMILAR PROBLEMS, MAYBE EVEN
WORSE PROBLEMS.
WORSE PROBLEMS. WE JUST DON’T KNOW ABOUT THEM
YET.
YET. >> NICK, VERY QUICKLY, THE
MAYOR, GIVEN WHAT YOU’VE TOLD
US, GIVEN WHAT YOU’VE REPORTED,
WHAT’S HIS STANDING IN NEWARK
RIGHT NOW?
RIGHT NOW? >> HE’S AN INCREDIBLY POPULAR
MAYOR.
MAYOR. UP UNTIL THIS MOMENT THERE
HASN’T REALLY BEEN MUCH OF A
CONTROVERSY, MUCH OF A SCANDAL.
HE TOOK OVER FROM CORY BOOKER
WHO WAS POPULAR.
AS HE LEFT THERE WERE A FEW
ISSUES DUE TO RISING CRIME,
BUDGET CUTS.
BUDGET CUTS. UP UNTIL NOW THE MAYOR HAS BEEN
VERY POPULAR.
VERY POPULAR. HE’S A VERY IMPORTANT ALLY OF
GOVERNOR PHIL MURPHY.
HE’S WELL LIKED IN THE STATE.
WHICH IS WHAT SURPRISED SO MANY
PEOPLE TO SEE HOW HIS MESSAGING