Study reported in the Guardian identifies about 900,000 households with service lines definitely or possibly made of lead, a known neurotoxin

One in five New Yorkers may be drinking lead-contaminated water, a new report has found.

Roughly 900,000 households – or 21% of the city’s residents – live in properties with lead or possible lead service lines, the pipes that provide city water to individual properties. Lead can leach into the water from the pipes as the water travels through them.

“There is no safe level of lead,” said Joan Matthews, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which co-authored the report as part of the New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning.

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Here, the DWI provides information and guidance on the issue. It notes that lead was commonly used in homes built before 1970.