BY WALTER ELLIOTT
ORANGE – The Orange Water Department and its operator, Woodard and Curran, may want to take a bow and some water quality bragging rights after an advocacy group rated them tops among other suppliers in the “Local Talk” area and throughout Essex County.
TownWaterCheck.com, in a recently published countywide water quality survey, gave Orange – and only Orange – an A for “Excellent.”
The self-billed water advocacy group granted Belleville, Irvington, Montclair and Glen Ridge Bs for good quality. Newark, South Orange and Bloomfield got Cs for fair quality. East Orange, West Orange and Maplewood are rated D for “Subpar.”
TWC founder Daniel Rudy and Dr. Robert Winkler are the group’s science advisors who took on their first county-wide ratings survey. They had previously analyzed water quality in Union County’s Summit and Morris County’s Chatham, East Hanover, Florham Park and Madison.
The duo wants readers to look at TWC as sort of a “Consumers Report” on water quality and related issues. Its website provides information on water supplies (“63 percent of U.S. public water systems use surface water as its primary source”) to contamination studies to test results on consumer tap water filters.
TWC’s goals include making water information transparent and available to the general public, advocating for clean water policies and providing practical solutions for the home consumer.
Their Essex County water quality methodology’s data is drawn from the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Information System, state environmental and health databases, “independent testing and research organizations,” academic research studies and consumer confidence reports on public water systems.
The data, after collecting and standardizing the sources, assesses water quality on a range of factors. These factors include comparing contaminant levels to EPA standards and health guidelines. Their report is also the result of identifying quality concerns and trends – and included “tailored recommendations.”
TWC includes the use of the EPA’s PFAS “forever chemical” compound limit 0f 4 parts per trillion gallons of water.
TWC’s Essex County ratings survey mentions whether the municipality draws water from a surface reservoir, stream and/or wells. It does not rate the water supplier or utility or manager:
“We’re grading the water, not the companies that handle it,” said TWC. “They’re thrown into a very difficult situation not of their own making. Who knew until recently that PPT-level contaminants, previously negligible, could be so harmful?”
Orange gets its A rating thanks to “all biological and radiological contaminants being undetectable or well within EPA limits. This means that Orange’s water treatment processes are effectively handling these contaminants.”
Orange hired Woodard and Curran to take over treatment, supply and management from Viola/Suez in late 2023. Suez and new parent Viola had worked for Orange for 20 years. The city had switched from its Orange Reservoir to seven South Mountain Reservation wells – all within West Orange – in the 1990s.
Belleville received a B+ while Irvington, Montclair and Glen Ridge drew Bs. Belleville had its PFAS and heavy metal readings being undetectable or well within EPA limits. Irvington, Montclair and Glen Ridge’s PFAS, lead and arsenic levels were also in the federal agency’s bounds.
Newark, South Orange and Bloomfield’s tap water is rated C.
Newark’s lead level, subject to the recent lead service line replacement program, is 29 percent of the EPA’s maximum limit. It has, at 4.9 PPT, some 23 percent above the EPA’s 4.0 PPT level for PFOA – a PFAS variant. (The 4.0 PPT level is to take effect in 2029.)
South Orange, who has recently transferred its water infrastructure and management to New Jersey American Water, has PFOA levels 150 percent higher than the EPA limit. Its 20 percent lead and 10 percent arsenic levels are high but within EPA bounds.
Bloomfield, whose LSLRP was also noted, has a lead level 30 percent of EPA standard. Aluminum, at 75 percent of EPA limits, and TTHM and HAA5 disinfectant levels were also detected.
East Orange, West Orange and Maplewood, despite drawing from separate sources, got D for subpar results.
Although the East Orange Water Commission has been correcting previous contamination reports, the PFOA readings are 388 percent higher than the 2029-effective limit. West Orange and Maplewood’s water supplies are hit with PFOA and PFOS readings respectively 225 and 250 percent higher than EPA limits.
The 10 other “West Essex” towns’ water supplies received a range of C to F grades.
