Water filter service in Toms River, NJ

What is in the water in Toms River

Toms River is served by Veolia Water New Jersey, Toms River system .

Source water: Entirely groundwater. The state source water assessment records 24 wells, no surface water intakes and no wells under the influence of surface water, drawing on the Kirkwood Cohansey water table aquifer, the Piney Point aquifer and the Potomac Raritan Magothy aquifer system, plus one purchased groundwater source from Manchester Township. The Kirkwood Cohansey is a water table aquifer, which is to say the top of it is close to the surface and it responds to what happens on the land above it. That is the hydrogeology behind everything else on this page. Reported by New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for 2004.

Toms River is one of the few places where the local contamination history is the reason the treatment exists. The former Ciba Geigy plant, 1,255 acres at 277 Oak Ridge Parkway, manufactured dyes, pigments, epoxy resins and plastics from 1952 until production ended in 1990. Liquid waste went into unlined lagoons and drums were buried on site. The site was added to the National Priorities List in 1983. A groundwater plume of volatile organic compounds including SAN trimer, nitrobenzene and epichlorohydrin moved off the property and reached the Parkway well field then operated by the Toms River Water Company. Those wells were taken out of service, nearby residential wells were sealed, and a groundwater treatment system became fully operational in 1996, upgraded by BASF in 2014. The Environmental Protection Agency reports the plume has shrunk and concentrations at its edges have fallen. The practical point for a household today is that the exposure route was the well field, not the current distribution system, and that a private well within the plume footprint is a different decision from a house on the public supply.

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 Toms River

PFAS in Toms River

New Jersey sets maximum contaminant levels of 14 parts per trillion for PFOA and 13 parts per trillion for PFOS, among the strictest state standards in the country, measured as a running annual average of the four most recent quarters. Groundwater systems in the Ocean County coastal plain are more exposed to PFAS than deep confined supplies are, because the shallow water table aquifer takes in whatever reaches the land surface. Check the current annual report for the specific wells serving your address rather than a system wide figure, since a system that blends 24 wells can meet a standard on average while individual wells differ.

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.
• PFAS. Confirm with certified laboratory analysis using an epa-approved pfas method.

Filters that apply here

• 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.
• Sediment filters. A mechanical filter that captures sand, silt, rust flakes, and other particles.

Installation in Toms River

• 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

• Ciba Geigy natural resource restoration. Under state oversight BASF is required to carry out restoration projects compensating for historic natural resource injury, including permanent preservation of roughly 1,000 acres, which protects the groundwater beneath it in perpetuity.
• Toms River childhood cancer investigation record. The state health department maintains the public record of its epidemiologic study, which associated prenatal exposure to Parkway well field water and to plant air emissions with increased leukemia risk in female children, and states that those exposures are no longer occurring following the plant closure and the remedial actions.

Nearby areas

• Brick, NJ , Ocean County
• Lakewood, NJ , Ocean County
• Howell, NJ , Monmouth County
• Jackson, NJ , Ocean County
• Monroe, NJ , Middlesex County

Sources

• New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, 2004.
• New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, 2024.
• United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2024.
• Population: US Census Bureau sub-county population estimates, Vintage 2024 (POPESTIMATE2024).