Water filter service in Newark, NJ

What is in the water in Newark

Newark is served by Newark Department of Water and Sewer Utilities .

Source water: Two treatment plants, and which one serves you depends on your ward. The Pequannock plant in West Milford supplies the North, West, South and Central Wards. The Wanaque plant supplies the East Ward and parts of the North and Central Wards. Between them the system delivers roughly 80 million gallons a day to more than 300,000 customers in the city and surrounding communities. Reported by City of Newark for 2024.

Corrosion control is the part of Newark's treatment worth understanding, because it is what went wrong and what was fixed. The Pequannock plant previously used sodium silicate, which stopped controlling corrosion effectively. A new treatment using zinc orthophosphate was installed in May 2019. Corrosion control does not remove lead from water. It keeps the water from dissolving lead out of the pipes it travels through, which is why it matters so much in a city with older plumbing.

These figures describe the distribution system. Your own tap can differ, and for lead it very likely does.

We do not yet hold a sourced figure for every field on this page. Where something is missing it is left blank rather than estimated, because an unsourced number here would look like information.

Buildings and plumbing in Newark

Newark had a serious lead problem and then did something about it at a scale almost no other US city has matched. In June 2017, 22 percent of 129 samples exceeded the federal lead action level. Because more than 10 percent of samples exceeded the threshold, the city was required to notify residents. The cause was traced to failed corrosion control at the Pequannock plant; water from the Wanaque plant did not show elevated lead. The city then replaced more than 23,000 lead service lines and confirmed a further 4,000 properties did not need replacement, using trenchless methods and copper replacements. The programme finished under budget and roughly seven years ahead of its original schedule. If you are in Newark, there is a reasonable chance your service line has already been replaced, and that is worth confirming before you buy any equipment for lead.

PFAS in Newark

New Jersey set enforceable PFAS limits before the federal government did, and they remain among the lowest anywhere: 14 parts per trillion for PFOA and 13 each for PFOS and PFNA, judged on a running annual average of the four most recent quarters. Newark also holds allocations in the Wanaque North and Wanaque South systems managed by the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, at 40.5 and 11.8 percent of storage respectively, and supplies water to close to half a million direct and bulk customers. Since 2014 the city has invested more than 400 million dollars in water and sewer infrastructure.

Source: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, 2024. More on confirming and treating this on our PFAS page.

What this means in practice

• Chlorine and chloramine taste. Confirm with free and total chlorine test strip, plus the utility report for the disinfectant type.
• Lead in drinking water. Confirm with certified laboratory analysis of a first-draw tap sample.
• PFAS. Confirm with certified laboratory analysis using an epa-approved pfas method.

What these figures mean for filter choice

Lead is a plumbing question rather than a supply question in Newark, as it is everywhere. What that means practically is that a filter certified under NSF/ANSI 53 for lead at the tap you drink from sits downstream of the entire problem, whereas a whole-house filter at the point of entry sits upstream of nearly all of it and costs several times more.

Filters that apply here

• Lead reduction filters. Point-of-use filters certified for lead under NSF/ANSI 53.
• PFAS reduction systems. Reverse osmosis or a certified activated carbon system aimed at per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
• Under-sink carbon filters. A carbon block cartridge on the cold line under the sink.
• Reverse osmosis, tank. A membrane system under the sink that produces treated water to a dedicated tap and stores it in a small pressure tank.
• Whole-house filtration. A filter plumbed into the main line where water enters the building, so every tap, shower, and appliance downstream is fed treated water.

Installation in Newark

• Free water testing. Typically 45 to 60 minutes.
• Whole-house filter installation. Typically 3 to 5 hours.
• Under-sink reverse osmosis installation. Typically 2 to 4 hours.
• Repair, any brand. Typically 1 to 3 hours.

Renters, co-ops, and businesses

• Options for renters
• Co-ops and condos
• Offices and commercial sites

Local programmes

• Lead Service Line Replacement Program. The completed city-wide replacement programme, with records of which properties were replaced. Check whether your address was covered before assuming you still have a lead line.

Nearby areas

• East Orange, NJ , Essex County
• Irvington, NJ , Essex County
• Elizabeth, NJ , Union County
• Bloomfield, NJ , Essex County
• Bayonne, NJ , Hudson County

Sources

• City of Newark, 2024.
• City of Newark, 2024.
• New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, 2024.
• Population: US Census Bureau sub-county population estimates, Vintage 2024 (POPESTIMATE2024).