New Jersey Has Comprehensive, Expensive Plan For Getting The Lead Out
After coming under public fire for providing drinking water contaminated with lead to its residents, New Jersey providers appear to be making progress with a comprehensive solution to the problem.
“Tests conducted by the Suez water company [in two New Jersey counties] in the second half of 2019 showed lead at 11.2 parts per billion — a drop from two consecutive testing periods when levels were above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 15-parts-per-billion threshold for action,” according to NorthJersey.com. “The decline coincided with Suez’s $22 million plan that removed 2,517 lead service lines and small lead connectors called goosenecks last year.”
In August 2019, U.S. EPA officials sent a letter to officials in Newark, NJ, warning them of the unduly high levels of lead in the city’s drinking water. This prompted state and federal officials to commit to fixing the problem shortly afterward.
Lead contaminated drinking water has been an issue in other regions around the country as well — most notably in Flint, MI. It is generally caused by outdated lead service lines leeching the compound into drinking water after it is treated but before it reaches consumers.
It may be possible to fix the issue by reducing the water’s corrosiveness, but removing and replacing lead service lines with pipelines made from different material is a more definitive, if expensive, fix. Throughout New Jersey, at least, that appears to be the preferred solution.
“All 37,000 of the lead water pipes in New Jersey’s capital city will be replaced over the next five years at an estimated cost of $150 million,” per the Associated Press. “The announcement comes about five months after the state’s biggest city, Newark, said it would speed up the replacement of its 18,000 lead lines over the next 2 ½ years — and as the state grapples with how to move forward with its old water infrastructure.”
While it appears that much of the state is prepared to solve its lead contamination problem once and for all, there’s no doubt that it still faces an uphill battle. The remaining work to be done by Suez alone is daunting.
“Suez is preparing to replace more than 2,000 lead pipes this year, beginning in March, as required by the state Department of Environmental Protection,” per NorthJersey.com. “The company estimates that as many as 25,000 lead pipes still exist in the system, including 5,868 service lines and 1,781 goosenecks. The company doesn’t know the composition of more than 17,000 goosenecks.”
To read more about service line replacement as a solution for lead drinking water contamination, visit Water Online’s Drinking Water Distribution Solutions Center.