The most recent issue has been elevated levels of lead in dozens of water systems that serve thousands of people.
While there are no "safe" lead levels, the federally-approved level is 15 parts per billion in drinking water, the article says.
Here are the North Jersey water systems with the highest lead levels in the state, according to a review of violations issued by the NJDEP between January 2018 and January 2019 and reported by NJ.com.
- 5. Englewood Hospital (19.9 ppb): Serves 2,600 Englewood Hospital and Medical Center patients and staff members; the hospital took corrective action and the further sampling indicated that the elevated lead levels had declined, meeting standards.
- 4. Morristown Memorial Hospital (23 ppb): Serves 5,000 Morristown Medical Center patients and staff member; had filters installed across campus in 2016 with new treatment equipment and pipes to follow in 2017. The system will switch from well water to Southeast Morris County MUA in the near future.
- 3. Bloomfield Water Department (32 ppb): Serves 47,315 Bloomfield residents; town is working on replacing service lines.
- 2. Newark Water Department (47.9 ppb): Serves 290,139 Newark residents; an 8-year project costing $75 million will replace service lines, along with the installation of a new corrosion treatment for water.
- 1. SUEZ Water New Jersey, Hackensack (18.4 ppb): Serving 792,713 Bergen and Hudson County residents, the company will start a $15 million project to replace nearly a quarter of its lead service lines by the end of this year. The problems were caused by a faulty corrosion control treatment at its Haworth water plant. SUEZ in Hackensack serves the following towns:
Alpine, Bergenfield, Bogota, Carlstadt, Cliffside Park, Closter, Cresskill, Demarest, Dumont, East Rutherford, Edgewater, Emerson, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Fairview, Fort Lee, Guttenberg, Hackensack, Harrington Park, Hasbrouck Heights, Haworth, Hillsdale, Leonia, Little Ferry, Lodi, Maywood, Montvale, Moonachie, New Milford, North Bergen, Northvale, Norwood, Old Tappan, Oradell, Palisades Park, Paramus, Ridgefield, Ridgefield Park, River Edge, River Vale, Rochelle Park, Rockleigh, Rutherford, Secaucus, South Hackensack, Teaneck, Tenafly, Teterboro, Township of Washington (Bergen County), Union City, Upper Saddle River, Wallington, Weehawken, West New York, Westwood, Wood Ridge, Woodcliff Lake
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