The U.S. EPA will host a community roundtable discussion with organizers representing Newark, New Jersey, to highlight the city’s challenges with lead in drinking water.
According to the EPA press release, this roundtable discussion, along with nine others being held across the country, is essential to informing EPA’s review of the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) revisions to ensure that the rule is grounded in the lived experience of individuals and communities that are most at-risk of exposure to lead in drinking water.
The community roundtable will start at 2:00 p.m. (EDT). Participants are expected to include representatives of Clean Water Action; Newark Water and Sewer Department; City of Newark; Newark Public Schools; New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection; the Newark Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Urban League of Essex County; Newark Water Coalition; Newark Education Workers Caucus, South Ward Environmental Alliance and the Newark Environmental Commission.
“The residents of Newark have firsthand experience with how disconcerting and troubling lead in drinking water can be for people who ultimately only want to protect themselves and their families. Importantly, they also saw their local, state and federal governments combine forces to take action to respond to the crisis, so they have a unique view of what policies may be helpful to other communities that face these same issues,” said Walter Mugdan, EPA Region 2 Acting Regional Administrator in the EPA press release. “Addressing a public health challenge like this requires partnerships and strong leaders and I want to thank the community groups that organized this roundtable, as well as Newark’s elected officials for their leadership on this important issue.”
According to the EPA press release, additional information on the virtual roundtable, including how to watch, is available here.
