De Blasio won’t comment on high lead levels in city schools
Mayor de Blasio would not comment Monday on a report in The Post that roughly 1 in 20 water taps in city elementary schools has tested positive for elevated levels of lead.
While he had time to deliver a 9-minute speech as part of a photo-op to dub the first NYC Ferry boat “Lunch Box” — a commuter service that won’t launch until May 1 — the mayor took no questions from reporters and stayed mum when a Post reporter asked about the lead findings in schools.
“We’re not taking questions, thank you,” an aide said as the mayor walked away from the event at Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
The mayor hasn’t fielded open-ended questions from the City Hall press corps since last Monday.
The DOE checked about 100,000 taps in elementary buildings — both for water fountains and kitchen faucets — between December 2016 and February 2017.
More than 6,000 showed lead levels above 15 parts per billion — the federal threshold for remediation.
DOE officials have touted the quality of the city’s drinking water and said there are no known cases of lead poisoning from water in public schools.