Livingston student launches H2NoLead to target childhood lead exposure in New Jersey

Aniket Roychoudhury has launched H2NoLead, a public health policy project aimed at childhood lead exposure and prevention gaps in New Jersey. The effort combines a community education poster, a QR code survey, and a planned white paper for policymakers after Roychoudhury says his family’s water-safety experience made the issue personal.

Why it matters: - Childhood lead exposure can cause permanent health and learning harms, and prevention gaps can leave families without practical protection even when laws already exist. - Roychoudhury is trying to turn public health research into a community tool that can reach families most affected by lead risk. - New Jersey’s projected lead service line burden makes the issue a statewide concern, not just a local one.

What happened: - Aniket Roychoudhury created H2NoLead, a public health policy project focused on childhood lead exposure, community education, and prevention gaps in New Jersey. - The project grew out of Roychoudhury’s experience after Livingston’s tap water was shut down in 2021 because of dangerous PFAS levels. - Roychoudhury and his family bought gallon jugs of distilled water for more than a year before installing a home water purifier in 2023. - He is distributing an educational research poster to libraries across New Jersey, starting with the Livingston Public Library.

The details: - H2NoLead uses a poster to explain childhood lead exposure, testing, prevention and policy gaps in plain language. - The poster includes a QR code where residents can share whether they have experienced lead exposure concerns, where they live and what policy changes they want. - Roychoudhury plans to turn the responses into a white paper for policymakers, legislators, public health officials, advocates and grassroots organizations. - The project aims to show where lead prevention efforts are failing and where communities may not be aware of the risk. - Roychoudhury said his research showed lead poisoning can lead to measurable IQ loss, attention and behavioral problems, higher ADHD risk and greater need for special education support. - At high exposure levels, lead poisoning can also cause seizures, encephalopathy or death. - He found that New Jersey already has laws requiring lead pipe removal and childhood lead exposure screenings, but implementation is inconsistent. - Roychoudhury said children are 4 to 5 times more susceptible to ingested lead than adults at the same exposure level, citing the World Health Organization. - He also learned the burden of lead exposure is often concentrated in low-income urban communities, many of them home to families of color. - The EPA and Natural Resources Defense Council rank New Jersey sixth nationwide in projected lead service lines, with an estimated 527,686 lead pipes.

Between the lines: - Roychoudhury is framing lead poisoning as both an environmental and equity issue, not only a regulatory one. - The project reflects a broader challenge in public health: research can identify problems, but communities still need accessible information and workable next steps. - His approach suggests that data alone may not move policy unless families, schools and local institutions help translate it into action.

What's next: - Roychoudhury plans to expand QR-code outreach to counties, municipalities, libraries, schools and community organizations across New Jersey and the United States. - He wants the project to increase community awareness and inform future policy discussions on childhood lead poisoning prevention. - He is asking New Jersey libraries, schools, pediatric offices, public health advocates and families to share the project. - Roychoudhury can be reached at aroychoudhurycollege2027@gmail.com. - His public health work may continue to build on research from the Geisinger Physician Ready Program, where he studied GLP-1 medications and barriers to obesity treatment access.

The bottom line: - H2NoLead is Roychoudhury’s attempt to move lead-exposure research out of reports and into community hands before more New Jersey families fall through the cracks.