Newark Schools Receive $7.5 million EPA Grant to Remove Lead from Water Infrastructure
A little more than a month after Mayor Ras Baraka declared Newark is nearly done replacing lead service lines to residents’ homes throughout the city, Newark Public Schools can now advance its own water infrastructure program.
Baraka, NPS Superintendent Roger Leon and other dignitaries accepted a $7.5 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency from federal officials at Lafayette Street School on Friday. It will pay to replace the lead water infrastructure and other sources of lead of Newark’s aging school system.
Across the district, many of Newark’s 64 schools are close to 100 years old. The grant is part of an initiative under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, which will award $39.9 million to 10 projects in communities where children are exposed to lead.