New York State to Offer Free Lead Testing

I don’t know if you’ve seen them or not, but as you’re walking out of the Home Depot in Johnson City, there’s a display with free packets which contain vials that you can fill with tap water from your house to send off and be analyzed to see if your water is safe to drink.

I wish I could say we’ve had success with this free water test, but we’ve sent our water samples out twice and never received a report on our water. Hopefully, this new program that New York state is launching will work a little better and give all of us a better idea of what’s coming out of our faucets.

The New York State Department of Health has announced that it will launch a $1.5 million dollar program which will allow those who live in the state to have their drinking water tested for lead, completely free. According to the State Department of Health, this service will be for people who get their water from a private well, and from public water systems.

Much like the free water test my husband and I attempted, people who want their water tested will take a sample and send them to a lab. However, this will be a first come, first served deal- the program will only be available as long as the money is available. Once the funds for this program run out, that’s the end, unless more money is freed up.

The reason the state is taking such a deep look into our water is because lead is a very toxic metal and if ingested by young people, it can cause harm to their developing brains, and nervous systems.

[via New York State Department of Health]