Drinking Water

The Jersey Water Works Lead Service Line Implementation Workgroup received an award from the Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative.

The group was honored in the Policy Innovation and Leadership category for its leadership and significant contributions to advancing lead service line replacement.

National experts in water infrastructure convened in Washington, D.C. to celebrate and honor innovation and leadership in Lead Service Line Replacement Initiatives. New Jersey’s group, the Jersey Water Works Lead Service Line Implementation Workgroup, received an award for its work in advancing Lead Service Line Replacement.

How do we know if New Jersey is making progress in transforming water infrastructure? Since 2013, Jersey Water Works has been convening multiple stakeholders across the water sector with the common purpose of transforming and upgrading the water infrastructure. To track progress and enable continuous learning, Jersey WaterCheck (JWC), the data dashboard Jersey Water Works, was created to highlight New Jersey’s water infrastructure needs and promote investment in related priorities.

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In 2025, Jersey Water Works members advocated for the addition of a PFAS and Emerging Contaminants Committee to the collaborative's working committees. To understand the significance of this initiative, first we must understand what PFAS is. According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, “Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a large family of thousands of manmade chemicals that have been used in industrial and commercial applications for over 70 years.” PFAS—often referred to as “forever chemicals”— “repel water and oil and are resistant to heat and chemical reactions. Products that may contain PFAS include stain-resistant coatings for upholstery and carpets, water-resistant breathable clothing, greaseproof food packaging, and certain fire-fighting foams (aqueous film-forming foams used for extinguishing petroleum-based fires).”

Until the establishment of the 2017 Water Quality Accountability Act (WQAA), New Jersey’s public community drinking water systems with over 500 service connections were entirely responsible for setting their own infrastructure standards. Due to a lack of transparency in how systems were managed, there was growing concern about aging infrastructure and the quality of drinking water. The WQAA was a major step in requiring water purveyors to improve safety, reliability, and administrative oversight of water infrastructure, thereby serving as a way to hold drinking water systems accountable. In 2021, amendments made to the law provided the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) with the tools to enforce it. The Jersey Water Works Asset Management and Finance Committee (JWW-AMF), along with its predecessor, the Best Practices Committee, played a key role in providing recommendations that informed the WQAA legislation and its subsequent amendments. These included legislative testimonies by multiple JWW members, collaborating with the American Water Works Association New Jersey section Infrastructure Management Committee to submit recommendations on Asset Management Key Performance Indicators, and public comments on WQAA rules and regulations, elevating important perspectives.