The New York City Housing Authority bungled its response to concerns about the water at the Jacob Riis Houses in Manhattan two years ago, causing “unquantifiable stress” for residents, according to a watchdog report released Thursday.
According to the report, the cloudy water at the Jacob Riis Houses was a result of the failure of one of two house pumps in the development, which put stress on the second one and aerated the water, which looks cloudy. The report also pointed out that thethat produced the faulty results – a subcontractor of the one the city hired — lacked the required New York state certification to test for arsenic.
Strauber continued, “NYCHA also failed to provide adequate guidance to the laboratory that subcontracted out the testing to a vendor that lacked appropriate certification to test for arsenic and other contaminants. The laboratory and its subcontractor also bear responsibility in this troubling incident.”