Lead in Drinking Water Advisory Council (formerly Task Force)

Every person in New Jersey deserves a safe, healthy environment that nurtures their full potential. Lead exposure thwarts this basic goal. Across New Jersey, lead in drinking water threatens human health, especially among children.

To address the risks from lead in water, Jersey Water Works, with support from The Fund for New Jersey, convened a 30-member task force of representatives from local, state, and federal governments, water utilities, academia, environmental and public health organizations, and smart growth and community advocacy groups.

TASK FORCE:

Beginning in December 2018, the task force worked to determine practical, cost-effective, equitable, and permanent solutions that will ensure people across the state can access drinking water free from the risks of lead.

TWO REPORTS:

WORK GROUP:

In 2021, a new Lead Service Line Implementation Workgroup was created to identify best practices to help water utilities comply with the statutory goal of replacing lead service lines in ten years. To learn more, check out the resource page.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE:

In 2024, the Task Force transitioned to an Advisory Committee focusing on specific projects and providing expertise as needed.

With a grant from The Fund for New Jersey, staff support for the Lead in Drinking Water Task Force is provided by New Jersey Future, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes sensible growth, redevelopment and infrastructure investments in the state and facilitates the Jersey Water Works collaborative.

See Jersey Water Works latest news on lead in drinking water.

Questions about the JWW Lead in Drinking Water Task Force?

Please contact Jersey Water Works’ Backbone staff Deandrah Cameron at dcameron@njfuture.org or 609-262-3545 x1022.

The Lead In Drinking Water Task Force recently did a 5-year review and evaluation (2019-2023). The scorecard timeline highlights the major milestones of the committee’s work.

View the scorecard here.

The poster above highlights the New Jersey Water Risk Equity Map as a tool to tackle water infrastructure challenges in overburdened communities. It showcases collaborative efforts between Rutgers University, Jersey Water Works, and Jersey WaterCheck and underscores each organization’s commitment to advancing equity. View the full poster here.

Deandrah Cameron, Policy Manager at New Jersey Future and JWW backbone staff, secured third place in the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Annual Conference and Exposition ACE2024 Fresh Ideas Poster Competition held in Anaheim, California! The competition featured students and young professionals, who won their individual AWWA Section competitions.

Committee initiatives and work include:

Infrastructure Solutions

Policy recommendations, white papers, fact sheets, and reports.

Water Communications

Customizable resources for communicating the value of upgrading our water infrastructure, including funding stormwater management.

Community Engagement

The work Jersey Water Works and our members are doing to promote equitable water infrastructure solutions.

The public commitments listed below are from the members of the Jersey Water Works Lead in Drinking Water Task Force affirmed in 2019. They are either new projects, programs, or resources that help advance the goal of drastically reducing lead in drinking water in New Jersey and build momentum for future implementation of the report’s recommendations.

Advocates for Children of NJ (ACNJ)

Commits to the following:

ACNJ will advocate with the governor’s office, state agencies, and legislators for a coordinated state effort around lead prevention and a designated official point person to manage lead prevention activities across multiple departments. ACNJ will advocate for creation of memoranda of understanding that allow for more data sharing, especially child blood lead screening data, as well as more publicly accessible disclosure of lead testing results in water and housing.

American Water Works Association (AWWA)

Commits to the following:

The AWWA, acting through its Infrastructure Management Committee, will lead a team of interested parties in developing a model ordinance for lead service line replacement. This effort, which will be particularly helpful for municipalities, will fill an important informational gap in the development of such programs and thus accelerate their implementation.

Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority

Commits to the following:

The Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority will increase awareness of the hazards associated with lead in drinking water by disseminating informational brochures in its quarterly bills and creating educational videos encouraging residents to “let it run to get the lead out” if their homes were built before 1986.

Chairman Chris Daggett

Commits to the following:

Chairman Daggett will publish an op-ed promoting lead in drinking water solutions.

City of Bordentown

Commits to the following:

The Bordentown City Water Department will continue to employ a comprehensive, data-driven approach to investigating lead in drinking water, one that includes exploratory digging of curb boxes and testing of fire hydrants at or near homes with exceedances, free water sampling to all users, and ongoing public events to educate residents. Since the data collected thus far indicates no lead service lines in the city’s distribution system, the city will examine interior lead plumbing as a possible source.

City of East Orange - Department of Health and Human Services

Commits to the following:

The City of East Orange is committed to maintaining its own water supply. Under direction of the Board of Water Commissioners, the East Orange Water Department conducts regular testing of its water quality and will continue to make investments as needed to provide clean water to its residents. All testing is conducted by an independent third-party lab and results are provided to state regulatory agencies.

City of Newark - Division of Water

Commits to the following:

The City of Newark commits to replacing every lead service line within its inventory within 24 to 30 months.

Clean Water Action

Commits to the following:

Clean Water Action will develop and share effective and replicable community-based communications and outreach models that engage the public in achieving the solutions they seek with regards to lead. The organization will advocate for adoption of local, state, and federal policies that ensure adequate funding, timely action, full disclosure, and removal of lead hazards, with special attention to households least able to act on their own and most vulnerable to lead exposure and related harms.

Dan Van Abs (Associate Professor of Practice for Water, Society, and the Environment, Rutgers University)

Commits to the following:

In NJ Spotlight or a similar forum, commits to publishing an op-ed about the lead in drinking water issue and its potential solutions.

Department of Children and Families (DCF)

Commits to the following:

DCF has applied to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a $1.5 million federal grant through the Water Infrastructure Improvement for the Nation Act (WIIN) to comprehensively test all of the 4,200 state-licensed childcare centers in 18 months (i.e., by August 2021). If funds remain, some portion of the family-run childcare providers that have voluntarily registered with the department will be tested.

Department of Community Affairs

Commits to the following:

To increase overall efficiency, the Department of Community Affairs will participate in collaborative efforts to identify a more holistic approach to building inspections relating to lead exposure, one that includes lead in water.

Department of Education

Commits to the following:

In coordination with the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Education will continue to gather input from stakeholders on spending guidelines for the $100 million in state funds provided under the Securing Our Children’s Future bond act for water infrastructure improvements in New Jersey schools.

East Trenton Collaborative

Commits to the following:

The East Trenton Collaborative will increase awareness of lead in drinking water among affected community members by distributing information and hosting a forum on the topic of water safety.

Environment New Jersey

Commits to the following:

Environment New Jersey and Environment New Jersey Research and Policy Center will commit organizational resources, including outreach to its more than 20,000 citizen members, to actively promote research findings on the need for full replacement of lead service lines (LSLs), lobby the legislature for comprehensive LSL replacement legislation, advocate to the Drinking Water Quality Institute for a truly health protective lead in drinking water standard, and advocate to the Murphy administration for more regular testing of lead in school drinking water that is fully disclosed electronically.

Green and Healthy Homes Initiative

Commits to the following:

GHHI will continue its work providing substantive technical assistance to the state and local lead poisoning prevention programs, as well as advancing holistic lead hazard inspections that include lead-based paint, soil, and drinking water, focused on children with elevated blood lead levels across New Jersey.

Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey

Commits to the following:

The Network is pleased to be a part of the Task Force and to commit to advancing its recommendations by hosting a webinar for its members, partners, and allies about the Task Force’s report and including policy initiatives that support water safety and access in its advocacy efforts to secure healthy, lead-free homes and communities.

Isles

Commits to the following:

Isles will provide technical assistance to community development organizations in other communities that want to conduct comprehensive home inspections for lead in paint, water, and soil.

New Jersey American Water

Commits to the following:

New Jersey American Water, which invests over $300 million annually in service areas that supply water to 2.7 million people, will identify lead service lines in its system, advocate for full LSL replacement and constructive cost recovery approaches to support it, use corrosion control methods and water quality monitoring to continue to meet lead and copper regulations, and educate customers on how to mitigate their exposure.

New Jersey Future (NJF)

Commits to the following:

Following the release of the report, NJF staff (under the Jersey Water Works banner) will facilitate a one-hour webinar on the Lead in Drinking Water Task Force recommendations featuring a handful of speakers and a question/answer period. As a pilot program for New Jersey, NJF will research the best methods to project the number of lead service lines in the absence of a complete inventory.

New Jersey Urban Mayors Association

Commits to the following:

The New Jersey Urban Mayors Association will partner to sponsor an event on municipal water management. Topics will include lead abatement, crisis management, communication to residents, and financial assistance tools.

Passaic Valley Water Commission

Commits to the following:

The Commission will remove the remaining utility-owned lead service lines (approximately 800 in total) by the end of its current two-year contract with a private remediation firm (i.e., by 2021).

Raritan Headwaters Association

Commits to the following:

Raritan Headwaters Association will present a Watershed Tools for Local Leaders seminar on lead testing, treatment, and abatement, including an online “Lead Toolkit” education and outreach service to municipalities and other groups. In addition, the longstanding Community Well Testing program will highlight a special “Get the Lead Out” campaign for the next three years enabling all residents on private well and public water to easily test their drinking water for lead.

Robert Tucker (Retired Scientist, Department of Environmental Protection)

Commits to the following:

Robert Tucker will write op-eds concerning New Jersey’s lead in drinking water problem and potential solutions.

The Fund for New Jersey

Commits to the following:

The Fund for New Jersey has committed to another year of philanthropic funding in support of a lead-free New Jersey, including a grant to New Jersey Future to support the Lead in Drinking Water Task Force. Funds will go toward staffing the task force, with a particular focus on implementation of the task force policy recommendations.

Trenton Water Works

Commits to the following:

To help improve public safety, Trenton Water Works will publish an online map of the lead service lines throughout its service area.