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EPIB Trail
Volume 12, Issue 3
Clean Water, Dirty Hands:
Corruption, A Jersey Thing By Toyosi Dickson The state of New Jersey is no stranger to scandal. It can range from secret affairs, racketeering, unauthorized waste dumping, chicken farms, and bribes that made millions (Salant). Some would say that the average citizen has become numb to the dismal headlines on the ethics of elected officials. Corruption seems so out of reach when the only connection to the common man is that it abuses their tax dollars. It is only when unethical practices lead to disastrous consequences, is the public made aware of how vulnerable they can be to unscrupulous decisionmakers. A prime example of this phenomenon is the city of Newark, which is currently facing a water contamination crisis that is over seven years in the making. The crisis came to notice in 2010 when Newark Public Schools
began testing water samples for lead. Approximately 11.7% of samples were found to have lead concentrations of over 15 ppb, the actionable lead level. Lead concentrations would rise and fall with a peak of 15.27% for the 20152016 school year and went below 10% the subsequent school year. By 2017, citywide water samples taken at 10% of Newark households had elevated concentrations of lead. As of this year, over 15,000 water service lines, which were made of lead, were found contaminated with elevated levels of lead that leached from the pipes, (Scutti). This series of events occurred because the anti-corrosion treatment applied to the potable water was rendered useless as the water’s pH was changed to avoid violating another law, (Yi & Salant). The big question now is: Why did it
