Paddy Field is a man of few words but the longtime Maspeth resident leaves no doubt he's concerned about a new report by the city's Independent Budget Office.

"I’m not too happy about it," said Field.

His neighborhood is among the IBO's Dirty Dozen, communities found to have levels of lead in drinking water above Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.

The IBO compiled the results of lead tests conducted by New Yorkers using the free kits they obtained from the city's Department of Environmental Protection.

"The problem is really mostly confined to older and smaller homes and you know those are in neighborhoods like South Beach in Staten Island and Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn and Riverdale in the Bronx," said Dan Huber, an environmental analyst at the IBO.

Throgs Neck, Co-Op City, Pelham Bay, Kingsbridge and Marble Hill in the Bronx, Ridgewood and Glendale in Queens, and New Springville on Staten Island also made the list. 

Officials said the problem isn't with the city's water.

"While the water that's delivered to your home is lead free...there may be lead piping fixtures in your house particularly in older houses built between the 1920's or 30's," said Vincent Sapienza, Commissioner of the NYC EPA.

Lead pipes were still used in the U.S. until 1961, so any home built up until then could have a potential problem even with the city's effort to reduce the risk.

"For a long time now DEP has been adding food grade orthophosphate to our water supply which help prevent corrosion that may occur in lead pipes," said Sapienza.

Field's home was built around 1925 and while he doesn't think there's an issue, he doesn’t know for sure.

Field did not test his tap water but enough people in Maspeth tested theirs for the community to make the list.  

Officials said step one for addressing this issue is testing your own water, even if you rent.

If there is a problem, you can replace your plumbing fixtures but a water filter is a lot cheaper.

Make sure that the water filter is one that can remove lead, not all of them do.  

Another quick fix that officials recommend is running your tap water before you start to use it.

That's something Field already does.

"I run it for 20 30 seconds," said Field.

The Independent Budget Office says the report isn’t meant to scare residents only to encourage New Yorkers to be better informed.

You can find the full report on the IBO's website.