What to Know
- A number of Jacob Riis Houses tenants have filed a lawsuit against NYCHA over the arsenic water scare.
- After a week of being told not to drink the water after initial lab tests came back saying there were traces of arsenic in the water, it’s now safe to do so after Mayor Eric Adams said the results came faulty from the lab.
- “We don’t know if the water is good or if it's bad,” Civil rights activist Rev. Kevin McCall, founder of the Crisis Action Center said. "We don't know....there's trust issues between the Mayor, NYCHA and the residents. We don't know who to believe."
When Mayor Eric Adams visited Jacob Riis Houses Saturday with his health commissioner, their goal was to reassure residents that after a week of being told not to drink the water after initial lab tests came back saying there were traces of arsenic in the water, it’s now safe to do so.
“I went to Riis, turned on the faucet, filled up the glass and drank the entire glass. The water's fine. The tests are clear," Adams said.
The Mayor's Office even posted a video Monday reminding New Yorkers clean water comes from an upstate reservoir.
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“It’s the best drinking water in the country," the mayor went on to say.
However, outside the public housing complex Monday, there was skepticism and talks of a lawsuit.
"We need answers," a group of residents chanted outside the Jacob Riis Houses Monday.
“I’m here today because I’m scared. Later on down the line I could be sick my children could be sick from this," tenant Rebecca Perkins said.
Perkins is one of three dozen who’ve signed on with attorney Sanford Rubenstein. The high profile lawyer said they are suing NYCHA for $10 million even though the tests from Illinois-based lab Environmental Monitoring and Technologies — were apparently false. The company known as EMT says it accidentally put arsenic in the test samples while looking for silver sediment, but that nothing had contaminated the water.
“Victims have a right to damages even if they’re not sick but fear getting sick in this situation," Rubenstein said.
Residents had complained for more than a month that their water looked cloudy. Tenant Shequane Mitchell showed NBC 4 New York the water that had once been murky now runs clear. Civil rights activist Rev. Kevin McCall is not reassured.
“We don’t know if the water is good or if it's bad,” McCall, founder of the Crisis Action Center said. "We don't know....there's trust issues between the Mayor, NYCHA and the residents. We don't know who to believe."
However, the mayor said that more than 100 tests have shown no contamination of the water supply.
“We know there’s years of distrust in NYCHA and rightfully so. We have to rebuild that trust - and you do that by being on the ground and being very clear," Adams said.
