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💦 Gov. Phil Murphy announces a new lead exposure mapping tool for all NJ residents

💦 He also says $38 million in grants are being awarded for lead paint remediation

💦 More NJ residents are exposed to lead dangers from paint than pipes

We’ve heard a lot in recent months about replacing lead pipes that could be polluting drinking water supplies in older communities across New Jersey.

Now comes word the Murphy administration is ramping up efforts to protect Garden State children and adults from the dangers of lead paint in older buildings.

A new lead danger mapping tool

The administration launched a Potential Lead Exposure Mapping tool, which provides new publicly available data that indicate potential sources of lead exposure.

The online tool, which may be used by local health officers, community groups, and other members of the public to help identify the potential sources of lead exposure can be accessed here.

Murphy announced the awarding of more than $38 million in funding to 20 nonprofits and local governments across New Jersey through the Lead Remediation and Abatement Grant program.

Remediation will protect hundreds of thousands

Murphy said the Lead Remediation and Abatement Grant program will “protect hundreds of thousands of residents from the danger of home-based lead, most critically the danger of lead paint.”

Murphy said the nonprofit organizations and local governments receiving the grant money were all selected “based on the need of the areas they serve with special consideration given to the number of children under the age of 6 who have been found to have elevated lead levels in their blood.”

Not a small or easy problem to fix

He said in the areas served by the grant recipients there are more than 1.8 million homes built prior to 1978’s lead paint ban.

“Obviously not all of them still have a lead paint exposure problem, but the odds are many still do," he said.

“Much has been said about lead exposure through old and tainted water lines, and that’s for good reason, but let us be very clear: more residents face exposure from decades-old lead paint.”

The grant funds will be used to identify and remediate lead-based paint hazards through encapsulation, replacement, or abatement.

This work will follow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Renovation, Repair and Painting rule from 2010 that requires firms performing renovation, repair, and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, childcare facilities, and preschools built before 1978 be certified by EPA use certified renovators who are trained by EPA-approved training providers to do the work, and follow lead-safe work practices.

The following awards were announced:

David Matthau is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at

david.matthau@townsquaremedia.com

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