New York has another lead contributor: old pipes.
Smaller, older apartment buildings that dot the outer boroughs are more likely to have water that tests positive for lead than elsewhere in the city, the Independent Budget Office reported Tuesday.
But there was also good news: The number of positive tests has dropped sharply since 1993 due to the gradual replacement of 1920s- and 1930s-era pipes.
In 1993, more than 15 percent of tests came back positive for lead levels exceeding the EPA’s levels; in recent years, that figure fell to about 4 percent.
The lead-tainted water is most likely to be found in Ridgewood and Maspeth in Queens; Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn; Co-Op City, Throggs Neck, Pelham Bay, Kingsbridge, Marble Hill and Riverdale in The Bronx; and South Beach on Staten Island.