Water filter service in Paterson, NJ

What is in the water in Paterson

Paterson is served by Passaic Valley Water Commission (PVWC) .

Source water: The Passaic River, the Pompton River, and the Point View Reservoir, treated at the Alan C. Levine plant in Little Falls. Point View is the largest of the commission's four reservoirs: an earthen gravity dam built in Wayne in 1964, 55 feet high and 1,100 feet long, impounding Haycock Brook across 465 acres. For most customers the finished water is then blended with water from the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission's Wanaque plant before it is pumped out. Reported by Passaic Valley Water Commission for 2024.

The commission is owned jointly by Paterson, Clifton and Passaic, which is unusual: the three cities own the utility rather than buying from one. It also supplies Prospect Park, Lodi, North Arlington and part of Woodland Park, plus more than 22 wholesale customers across Passaic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Morris counties. If you live in any of those, this is the system whose report applies to you. Around 200 million dollars is being spent replacing mains, some of them over a century old, and covered storage is being added at the Levine reservoir so treated water is no longer open to the air.

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 Paterson

The replacement programme here is finished. Over 4,000 lead service lines were removed across Paterson, Clifton, Passaic and Prospect Park in about three years and replaced with copper, at no cost to customers, funded through the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank. Each city passed an ordinance allowing the work to proceed on private property, which is the step that usually stalls programmes like this. The commission describes the supply across those four municipalities as essentially lead free. An address lookup is published, and checking it is worth doing before buying a lead filter you may no longer need.

PFAS in Paterson

New Jersey adopted enforceable PFAS limits before the federal government did and they remain among the lowest anywhere: 14 parts per trillion for PFOA, 13 for PFOS and 13 for PFNA, assessed on a running annual average of the four most recent quarters rather than any single sample. A system drawing on two rivers and a reservoir in a densely developed part of northern New Jersey has a different exposure profile from an upland reservoir, so check the commission's current report for the measured figures. The distinction that decides whether you need equipment is between a historical detection and a current exceedance, and only the latest report tells you which you are looking at.

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 Paterson, 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 Paterson

• 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 address lookup. Search your address against the completed replacement programme records, and request an inspection if your line has not been assessed.

Nearby areas

• Wayne, NJ , Passaic County
• Bloomfield, NJ , Essex County
• East Orange, NJ , Essex County

Sources

• New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, 2024.
• Passaic Valley Water Commission, 2024.
• Passaic Valley Water Commission, 2026.
• Population: US Census Bureau sub-county population estimates, Vintage 2024 (POPESTIMATE2024).