by Daniel Johnson
October 6, 2024
A building firm is accused of scamming the New Jersey metropolis out of $10M.
Newark, New Jersey’s Lead Line Alternative Program, as soon as seen as a nationwide mannequin for infrastructure reform, hit a setback when it was revealed that building firm JAG Group Enterprises took $10 million from the town however failed to switch a few of the lead pipes it was contracted to take away. This discovery blemished this system’s fame, elevating considerations about oversight and accountability in what was thought-about a groundbreaking effort to deal with lead contamination in Newark’s water system.
In line with NBC New York, two central figures within the firm’s scheme are CEO Michael Sawyer and Foreperson Latronia Sanders. Sawyer is accused of submitting images of copper pipes to the town, claiming to the town that his firm had used these pipes to switch lead pipes.
Sanders, in the meantime, is accused of falsely informing inspectors that there was no must take away lead pipes by way of textual content messages and allegedly advised crews to shine present copper pipes so they’d appear like new pipes.
On Oct. 3, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka emphasised that the town’s water was nonetheless protected to drink as a result of the town’s plan to make use of a chemical, orthophosphate, to maintain the pipes from corroding was working as supposed, together with the distribution of water filters to residents.
“We’re happy with the work that we’ve achieved and we’re glad that we’ve come to an finish. When the U.S. legal professional recognized preliminary websites, we went to these websites. We modified what they confirmed us instantly that day. We proceed to do this as we go. I don’t need us to have this assumption that individuals have been prone to being uncovered to guide as a result of that by no means, ever was the case,” Baraka stated.
Throughout an look on All Issues Thought-about, Mayor Baraka careworn that the town’s ingesting water was “completely” protected. he replied, “In truth, the final take a look at that we had got here out at zero elements per billion for lead, which signifies that we’ve much less lead or no lead in our water. Bottled water is allowed to have 5 elements per billion of lead within the water. We now have zero in Newark,” Baraka stated.
When requested if the actions of JAG Group put residents in danger, Baraka replied, “No. I imply, we’ve orthophosphate within the water. We put it in, in 2019, which was the rationale, we had the issue within the first place. Our personal sodium silicate stopped working. So we needed to substitute that with orthophosphate. We did that in 2019. We’ve been in compliance since 2019 to the current. I imply, that’s what the NJ DEP (Division of Environmental Safety) and all of our testing has borne out.”
Baraka continued, “And the final take a look at, as I advised you earlier, got here up with zero elements per billion. So the orthophosphate works, proper? So even when we take away the lead service line, we nonetheless have to guard individuals who have outdated lead fixtures of their home. They may have sinks which have lead fixtures. They might have stuff beneath the sink with lead fixtures. And so the orthophosphate stops the lead from leaching into the water. And so it was working then and it’s working now.”
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