MANHATTAN — The Port Authority has finally admitted there's a leak at the World Trade Center after denying it when DNAinfo New York broke the story months ago.
A Port Authority spokeswoman insisted that the workers who heard water rushing behind the concrete wall that encases the 16-acre site were mistaken. She provided photographs of dry concrete walls to DNAinfo to illustrate that there was no leak.
Months later, in Wednesdays editions of the New York Times, Port Authority officials were quoted saying there was, in fact, a serious leak at the site that was contributing to the delays in the opening of the grand lower concourse where there will be roughly 100 high-end retail tenants.
Steven Plate, the director of World Trade Center construction for the Port Authority, told the Times that “the dripping has been reduced dramatically. We’ve made some significant progress. Several spaces are dry.”
Plate told the paper that engineers traced the leak to the roof of the underground complex that includes the transportation hub, the 9/11 museum and retail spaces.
He blamed the rushing water primarily on construction workers constantly spraying water to reduce dust levels as they break up concrete, and “to the fact that Tower 3, still under construction, is open to the elements,” the Times reported.
The newspaper also noted that Port Authority officials "coincidentally" failed to point this out to DNAinfo New York when its “On the Inside” columnist inquired about the leak.
When DNAinfo reached out to the Port Authority, the agency did not immediately comment on the leak, or why it had not disclosed the truth about the existence of leak several months ago.
