Photos Show NYC Tap Water Isn’t Kosher

By Maia Efrem September 1, 2010

The poor Hasidim just can’t catch a break. Now even their water is not kosher.

Yesterday, a blogger on the social news website Reddit uploaded photos of crustaceans found after an examination some New York City tap water under a microscope. The tiny creatures, called copepods, became apparent after an H&E stain was added to the water.

According to the post, the un-kosher critters are added to water reservoirs to “attack, kill, and eat the younger first and second instar larvae of the mosquitoes,” making it safe to drink.

The photos highlight an article republished in 2004 by Water & Wastes Digest about the Orthodox Jewish community’s insistence that the city do away with the appetizer special in the water. “We hope the city will do something to purify and filter the water to accommodate a few hundred thousand Orthodox, observant Jews,” said Rabbi Abraham Zimmerman of the ultra-Orthodox Satmar sect in an interview with the Associated Press.

The AP also reported that a Department of Environmental Protection spokesman said the copepods are impossible to remove from the water and that they provide a health benefit to reservoirs and water drinkers.

In the mean time, a simple store-bought filter will do the trick.

Maybe that’s why New York City tap water makes the best bagel.

Maia Efrem is the former research editor and assistant to the editor and was also responsible for the Forward’s annual Salary Survey. Previously she served as the editor of Blognik Beat, a blog written by students who emigrated from or have ties to the Former Soviet Union. Maia is a graduate of Hunter College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO