But the report also reveals something that many Poles living in older homes in Brooklyn and Queens may not know: the lead in your tap water doesn’t come from the water main — it comes from your pipes. And right now, the city is offering them a free replacement.
573 Thousand Analyses, Zero Violations — What the NYC DEP Report Says
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has published a report confirming that in 2025, the city’s drinking water met or exceeded all quality standards established by New York State and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). DEP scientists conducted over 573,300 analyses on 36,600 samples taken from the water supply system, upstate reservoirs, and nearly a thousand monitoring stations spread across all city boroughs. Additionally, robotic stations at reservoirs and streams performed another three million automated tests.
New York City is one of only five large cities in the United States that does not filter its surface drinking water. The Catskill and Delaware systems — supplying over 91% of New York’s water — operate under a special filtration waiver issued by the State Department of Health. The water is so clean at its source, in the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson Valley, that it does not require filtering. Instead, it is disinfected with chlorine and UV radiation at the largest facility of its kind in the world, capable of purifying over two billion gallons per day.
Lead is not in the water main — it’s in your home
And here begins the part of the report that should interest every Pole living in an older building in Greenpoint, Maspeth, Ridgewood, or the Bronx. New York City’s water supply system — 7,000 miles of aqueducts, tunnels, and main pipes — does not contain lead. However, lead can enter drinking water through service lines and internal building plumbing, which are the responsibility of the property owner, not the city.
Homes built before 1961 — and there are many such homes in Greenpoint and older parts of Queens — may have lead service lines connecting the building to the city’s water main. According to the DEP report, in 2025, 16 out of 326 samples taken from residents’ taps exceeded the so-called action level for lead, which is 15 micrograms per liter. This does not mean that the city water is contaminated — it means that the pipes in these specific buildings are releasing lead into water that was previously clean.
Lead is particularly dangerous for pregnant women, infants, and young children. There is no safe level of lead exposure for children — even low concentrations can affect brain development.
The city will pay to replace your pipes — Bronx and Queens first
In 2025, New York City expanded its program for free replacement of lead service lines for properties in the Bronx and Queens — boroughs with a high concentration of older buildings and a significant Polish community presence. The program is funded by $72 million in grants and interest-free loans, partly from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and partly from a state forgiveness program.
For a homeowner, this is a saving of over $10,000 — the cost of replacing the pipe on their own. DEP will contact owners of eligible properties directly. If you live in an older home in one of these boroughs and have not yet received information from the city, it is worth checking the status of your service line yourself on the interactive DEP map at nyc.gov/dep/lead.
PFAS — “forever chemicals” detected in one sample in the Bronx
The report also reveals that trace amounts of PFOA — one of the substances from the PFAS group, known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment — were detected in one sample taken on January 8, 2025, in Van Cortlandt Village in the Bronx (zip code 10468). The concentration was 2.7 nanograms per liter, significantly below the state standard of 10 ng/L. PFOA was not detected in quarterly samples. Other PFAS substances, including PFOS, were not detected in any sample.
For context: Van Cortlandt Village borders neighborhoods inhabited by the Polish community (Woodlawn, Norwood). The result of a single sample below the standard does not indicate a threat, but the very fact of detecting PFAS in the water of one of the largest water supply systems in the world shows that monitoring is conducted diligently — and that it is worth following the results.
What you can do — five steps from DEP
Regardless of where you live in New York City, DEP recommends several simple steps to reduce the risk of contact with lead in tap water:
- Before drinking, run the water for 30 seconds to 2 minutes — especially when the water has been sitting in the pipes for several hours (in the morning, after returning from work). This flushes out lead that may have leached from stagnant water.
- Use cold water for drinking and cooking — hot tap water dissolves more lead and other metals from pipes than cold water.
- Clean your faucet screen (aerator) once a month — fine lead particles can accumulate there.
- Consider an NSF-certified filter for lead removal — mounted on the faucet, under the sink, or a filtering pitcher.
- 5. Check the material of your service line — visit nyc.gov/dep/lead to see an interactive map with information about the pipes in your building.
Water Tunnel No. 3 — NYC’s largest construction project nearing completion
On the sidelines of the report, it is worth noting that New York City is completing the construction of Water Tunnel No. 3 — a $6 billion project that has been underway for over 50 years. The last two shafts are currently being built in Queens. This is the largest construction project in the city’s history and a critical backup water pathway in case of failure of the older Tunnels No. 1 and 2. For Polish construction companies in Queens, this is not just information — it’s context: the infrastructure they work on is part of a system that supplies water to 9 million people.
How much does water cost in New York City?
A typical single-family household in NYC uses about 70,000 gallons of water per year. According to rates effective July 2025, the annual cost of water and sewer is approximately $1,224 — or just over $100 per month. This is less than in many cities of comparable size, which is a direct result of New York City not having to filter most of its water.
Report available in Polish — but does anyone know about it?
On the last page of the DEP report, next to English, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean, there is a short note in Polish: “Ten raport zawiera bardzo istotną informację o twojej wodzie pitnej. Przetłumacz go albo porozmawiaj z kimś, kto go rozumie.” This is a nice gesture — but the truth is that most Poles in New York will never see this report because no one will tell them about it in Polish.
Voice of the Polish Community in the USA — poland.us. Do you live in an older home in NYC? Check your pipes at nyc.gov/dep/lead. Looking for a Polish plumber? Check the directory at polishpages.com.
