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Marking 50th Anniversary of Federal Safe Drinking Water Act, DEP Presents Our Water's Worth it Award to the New Jersey Drinking Water Quality Institute

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection today presented the third Our Water’s Worth It award to the New Jersey Drinking Water Quality Institute (DWQI), whose scientists developed the state’s first-in-the-nation drinking water standards for PFAS, commonly called forever chemicals. 

The award was presented during a ceremony held at the DEP headquarters in Trenton. It is part of the DEP’s Our Water’s Worth It campaign, launched earlier this year to highlight the importance of the state’s water supplies. The campaign recognizes individuals and organizations that excel in safeguarding water resources and enhancing drinking water quality for New Jersey residents.

“In the spirit of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, DWQI’s work has positioned New Jersey as a national leader in setting rigorous standards for drinking water that protect public health. Their actions directly support the DEP’s mission to ensure access to clean and safe drinking water,” said Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette. “My DEP colleagues and I are proud to honor the institute’s accomplishments and recognize Safe Drinking Water Act as the landmark legislation that laid the foundation for protecting water supplies across the country.”

“Safe drinking water is an expectation and a promise,” said Katrina Angarone, DEP’s Chief Strategy Officer. “New Jersey’s model of developing drinking water standards is unique and we are very fortunate to have a body such as DWQI to support the important work of protecting the safety of our drinking water. This is very challenging work that entails a great deal of expertise and commitment. I am proud to have worked with this distinguished group over the years in establishing New Jersey as a national leader in addressing the impacts of PFAS and other threats to drinking water.”

The DWQI is comprised of the leading water experts in New Jersey, including water purveyors, research scientists from the DEP and New Jersey Department of Health, environmental health experts and scholars. It is responsible for evaluating contaminants of concern in NJ and recommending standards for the highest allowable concentration of said contaminants in drinking water to the DEP Commissioner, as well as providing guidance to the state’s drinking water quality program.

Following the institute’s recommendation, New Jersey adopted its drinking water standard, or Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), for Perfluorononanoic Acid (PFNA), a type of PFAS, in September 2018. It was the first regulatory drinking water standard set for any PFAS in the nation. New Jersey continued to lead the nation on PFAS by adopting MCLs for PFOA and PFOS in 2020 based on recommendations made by DQWI.

The institute’s efforts, in cooperation with the DEP’s Division of Water Supply & Geoscience, has spurred water systems across New Jersey to install treatment, take impacted sources out of service, or identify alternate water sources. Since DEP has begun enforcing PFAS standards in drinking water, at least 80 public water systems have permits for treatment to remediate PFAS contamination, valued at an estimated statewide investment of at least $315 million. These investments in treatment were made across all types of public water systems, ranging from large municipal water systems to smaller noncommunity water systems, such as schools or businesses with their own wells.   

“The importance and impact of the PFAS recommendations made by the DWQI and its members cannot be fully appreciated until you understand the scope and persistence for this class of compounds both within NJ, nationally and internationally,” said Dr. Keith Cooper, former Chair of the Drinking Water Quality Institute. “The DWQI’s in-depth examination concerning the science on health effects, analytical capabilities and treatment options for several of the PFAS compounds served as a roadmap for other states to make their own assessments. The recommendations made by the members were based on the best science with the intention of protecting the public health through setting science-based and achievable drinking water levels. It was my honor to serve as the chairperson and as a member of the DWQI and to work with such a talented and dedicated group of individuals.”

 “I would like to commend the past and current members of the DWQI who worked so diligently to see this recommendation to fruition,” said Dr. Phoebe Stapleton, Chair of the Drinking Water Quality Institute. “Overall, the development and recommendation of the PFAS MCL demonstrates how well the successful partnerships between academic scientists, government scientists, and industry partners, embodied by the DWQI, can work together to increase awareness and reduce risk for the water consumers of NJ. This work, truly years in the making, is a labor of love for the DWQI members and their care for the people of the state of NJ. I am honored to be a part of the DWQI and am thrilled to have the PFAS recommendation to follow as a roadmap as we continue to evaluate emerging risks and contaminants.”

“Our residents rely on us to ensure that the water they drink is clean and safe, and we must rise to this challenge daily, but we are not alone. We launched the Our Water’s Worth It campaign to raise awareness about the importance of water and what municipal leaders and the general public can do,” said Pat Gardner, Assistant Commissioner for Water Resource Management. “Educating the public about water supply topics such as water conservation, reducing lead exposure and PFAS is vital to protecting the state’s water resources.” 

About the Our Water’s Worth ItCampaign

The DEP launched the Our Water’s Worth It campaign earlier this year to raise public awareness about the fundamental importance of our water supplies, the threats they face, and the steps DEP is taking to ensure all New Jerseyans have access to clean drinking water and healthy waterways. 

During the last couple of months, DEP presented the first two Our Water’s Worth Itawards: one to Ridgewood Water for its efforts to conserve water and address PFAS contamination, and the other to Lambertville for its exemplary stormwater management program.

More recently, the Murphy Administration has increased efforts to educate the public on water conservation following the declaration of a statewide drought warning in November. New Jersey remains in a drought warning and weekly water supply updates are posted to DEP’s drought information webpage at dep.nj.gov/drought.

About PFAS

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large family of manmade chemicals that have been used in industrial and commercial applications for over 70 years. Research has shown these chemicals do not break down in the environment and accumulate in the human body over many years, presenting health concerns for the public over time. PFAS can enter drinking water through various ways including industrial pollution, discharges from sewage treatment plants, landfill leachate, and the use of certain firefighting foams.

For nearly two decades, DEP scientists and environmental experts have been at the forefront of identifying and mitigating PFAS. New Jersey was the first state to conduct statewide studies on the presence of PFAS in drinking water and requires drinking water systems to conduct routine monitoring of water being served. The DEP has taken additional actions to address PFAS, such as:

  • Establishing specific groundwater standards;
  • Adding testing requirements for stormwater permits;
  • Expanding the testing of private wells;
  • Adding to New Jersey’s List of Hazardous Substances;
  • Ensuring PFAS information is included in public community water systems’ annual consumer confidence reports;
  • Launching the Our Water’s Worth It campaign to raise public awareness.

For more information on DEP’s efforts to address PFAS, visit dep.nj.gov/pfas.

Safe Drinking Water Act

On December 16, 1974, President Gerald Ford signed the federal Safe Drinking Water Act into law providing a comprehensive regulatory framework for protecting drinking water supplies across the nation by setting health-based standards and regulations. Years later in 1977, New Jersey adopted its own Safe Drinking Water Act (NJ SDWA). The state’s DWQI was established through amendments to the NJ SDWA in 1984.

Federal and state drinking water quality standards set the minimum contaminant levels necessary for the protection and maintenance of public health. The standards are set for biological contaminants, dissolved chemicals, and suspended particulate matter. These contaminants are naturally occurring, the result of industrial and/or domestic pollution, or both. States may set more stringent standards than those put forth by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which regulates a total of 94 contaminants. New Jersey has stricter standards for 14 of those contaminants and regulates an additional nine contaminants that are not regulated by the EPA.

Safe and Reliable Water as an Administration Priority

Providing New Jersey residents with safe and reliable water supplies is a top priority of the Murphy Administration and Commissioner LaTourette. The DEP works hard every day on programs that reduce lead exposure in homes and businesses, protect the long-term viability of water supplies such as reservoirs and groundwater sources, monitor for drought conditions, educate the public about the importance of testing wells and reducing lead exposure, and manage stormwater to better protect surface water sources.

In 2022, the Administration launched the innovative Water Infrastructure Investment Plan (WIIP) to assess and address high priority water infrastructure needs throughout the state. Through WIIP, the state is spurring record investments, providing for over $1 billion in infrastructure financing for fiscal year 2024, in clean water and drinking water infrastructure that are creating good-paying jobs while providing safe and reliable drinking water, reducing flooding, and improving the quality of New Jersey’s waterways.