After the lead crisis in Flint, Michigan this year sparked water quality concerns in cities across the United States, the city of Buffalo took extra steps over the summer to reassure residents their drinking water is safe. Time Warner Cable News reporter Kaitlyn Lionti tells us the results of independent testing released Wednesday.  

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Buffalo's water is lead-safe, and Mayor Byron Brown says testing done this summer is proof.

"We are using an abundance of caution, are holding ourselves to more stringent standards than the federal government requires, because we want to make sure that people are safe and that people have confidence in the quality of Buffalo water," said Brown. While he says city leaders didn't have any doubts, he knew residents were concerned.

Over the summer, British newspaper The Guardian did a report claiming Buffalo and other U.S. cities violated federal lead guidelines.

Buffalo voluntarily increased residential water testing from every three years, as required by the Environmental Protection Agency, to annually. It hired a national independent firm called TestAmerica to assess samples taken from June to September of this year. 

"We did an aggressive, extensive testing program that produced more results than were required by the federal government," said Brown.  

To test the city's water quality, samples were taken from 152 homes in Buffalo and all of the results came out below the EPA action level of 15 parts per billion. 

"Many people don't quite understand and don't have a good feel for when we're talking about one part per billion. What that is, is one drop of water in an Olympic size swimming pool," said OJ McFoy, chair of the Buffalo Water Board.  

Buffalo is taking things a step further, setting five parts per billion as the city's new action level, because that's the FDA standard for bottled water. 

"We've also tested all of the water fountains in our park systems, in fact, we even tested our water fountain for our dog park here, we want to make sure that our man's best friend are also safe," said McFoy.  

This summer's testing included three times the amount of homes than what's required, but the city hopes more residents will participate going forward.