The Best Kept Secret About Pollution Threats To Your Drinking Water
DEP “Source Water Assessment” Data On Pollution Threats Hidden In Plain Sight
Look Up Your Local Water System And Be Shocked To Find Multiple Pollution Threats
I just got a question from an old friend about their drinking water.
So, I thought I’d again post important information that not many people are aware of about pollution threats to their local drinking water supplies. This information is never reported by the media and DEP makes it pretty hard to find. The good information is hidden in the Appendices to individual water supply systems – you have to hit several links to find it (see below).
Shockingly, NJ environmental groups do not use this information to pressure DEP to cleanup up and better regulate pollution sources, or to require activated carbon treatment to remove known chemical contaminants, or to educate the public about these threats.
The data are old, but I’d bet the threats are even worse with more current data. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an environmental group campaign, press release or media report on this. DEP, polluters, and water purveyors are given a huge pass.
The DEP prepared detailed reports on all NJ drinking water systems – they were required by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and are called “Source Water Assessments”:
The purpose of the Source Water Assessment Program is to provide for the protection and benefit of public water systems and to increase public awareness and involvement in protecting the sources of public drinking water.
Under the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act, all states were required to establish a Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP). New Jersey’s SWAP Plan incorporates the following four fundamental steps:
1. Determine the source water assessment area of each ground and surface water source of public drinking water.
2. Inventory the potential contamination sources within the source water assessment area.
3. Determine the public water system source’s susceptibility to regulated contaminants.
4. Incorporate public education and participation.
Hit this link and then input your town and county to get surprising data. First input your town/county, then hit the link to “Source Water Assessment Appendices”. Then scroll down to find the pollution source inventory and susceptibility links:
Source Water Assessment Reports and Summaries identify the vulnerability of public water system sources (wells and surface water intakes) to potential contamination. All source water assessments were performed by the DEP in cooperation with the US Geological Survey. Each water source received a susceptibility rating of high, medium, or low for each of the following contaminant categories:
The Community Water System Source Water Assessment Reports and Summaries can be obtained by entering information in the search fields provided below.