NJEF works for water policies that are affordable and safe for those served, are the most conserving and replenishing of the system, reduce toxic loads, and make polluters pay for their wrongdoing.

We play an active role as an appointed member of the NJDEP's Clean Water Council and Drinking Water Quality Institute. In addition, we work on:

• Improving drinking water testing standards: PFOA, Radon, Perchlorate
• Reducing the use of bottled water
• Opposing statewide fluoridation of New Jersey's drinking water
• Reducing pharmaceutical drugs found in New Jersey's drinking water
• Supporting the Precautionary Principle

Drinking Water Testing:

• There are over 80,000 chemicals produced around the world with 10,000 new ones being created every year. Yet, virtually no testing is being done before being incorporated into products or ultimately gets into the environment.
• While over 600 substances have commonly been found in drinking water, only 91 are being tested for in New Jersey (and fewer, 84, are mandated by federal law).
• With the reauthorization of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act in 1996, the USEPA was required to establish a rigorous schedule for evaluating and setting standards for additional contaminants; but the agency is not keeping page.
• It took 60 years for the U.S. to adopt a more health protective standard for a universally undisputed human carcinogen, arsenic, changing the standard from 60 to 10 parts per billion (ppb), with New Jersey being even stricter at 5 ppb.
• NJEF is currently pushing stronger testing standards for PFOA, Radon, and Perchlorate and other contaminant and working with the NJDEP on two pilot carbon filtration projects o remove a broader range of "unregulated" contaminants from drinking water.

Drinking Water Standards: PFOA, Radon, And Perchlorate

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA): NJEF and our member group, the DuPont Accountability Coalition, have been leading the effort to ensure stricter regulation and testing of PFOA, a highly toxic chemical used to make non-stick cookware. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has found the substance in public water supply systems in New Jersey and NJDEP scientists recently recommended that four water suppliers reduce the levels of PFOAs to 40 parts per trillion in order to protect the public.

However, the chemical industry led by Dupont with some support from NJDEP management is fighting back against this recommendation and only testing levels down to 500 parts per trillion.

DuPont, the only company in the US that still manufactures PFOA, claims there is no proof of harms to human health. However, PFOA was labeled a "likely" human carcinogen by the EPA's Science Advisory Board in January of 2006 and has been the subject of multi-million dollar lawsuit settlements and EPA enforcement actions.

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive element found in groundwater and air. Drinking water that contains radon is not believed to cause a significant health risk, but a high airborne radon level is linked to increased risk of lung cancer. Radon is measured in Pico Curies per Liter (pCi/L). The EPA estimates that 10,000 pCi/L in water translates to about 1 pCi/L in air.

While there are no U.S. EPA standards for radon in water now, a maximum contaminant level (mcl) of 300 pCi/L for public water supplies is being considered by the U.S. EPA. Based on their pilot study, the average waterborne radon level in public groundwater supplies in the United States is 353 pCi/L.

In 2008, the NJDEP received recommendations from the Drinking Water Quality Institute (which NJEF's Campaign Director David Pringle sits on) to adopt a maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 300 pCi/L for radon after the USEPA ignored three congressional mandates to do the same. Drinking Water Quality Institute recommendations are statutorily required before NJDEP can regulate contaminants.

Perchlorate (rocket fuel) is a contaminant that impacts the drinking water of millions of people in the United States.

Two United States Senate bills aim to address perchlorate (rocket fuel) contamination and cleanup. The Perchlorate Monitoring and Right-to-Know Act (S. 24) and Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Perchlorate Act (S. 150) are both sponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Ca), Chair of Senate Environment and Public Works, and co-sponsored by Sens. Feinstein (D-CA) and Lautenberg (D-NJ).

• S. 24 requires perchlorate to be a listed contaminant in consumer confidence report and requires EPA to issue a health advisory for perchlorate in drinking water and regulation requiring monitoring in public water supplies for the compound.
• S.150 calls for the health advisory and development of a national primary drinking water standard for the contaminant under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

New Jersey, along with California and Massachusets have been leading the charge for strict perchlorate drinking water standards at the state level. However, the NJDEP have been sitting for two years on a DWQI advised standard to adopt a 5 parts per billion (ppb) MCL for perchlorate.

Drinking Water: Bottled or Not?

Whether drinking water is bottled or not, it still can contain un/regulated contaminants. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, bottled water is actually less regulated and largely drawn from the same source as a public system. It, therefore, gives a false sense of safety at a much more expensive price per unit of water (dollars v. pennies on the gallon from the tap).

Bottled water also consumes massive amounts of energy in production and transport, plastic containers can leach out contaminants, and generates unprecedented amounts of solid waste.

And finally, it is an environmental injustice if people with the least financial means are misinformed about the value of purchasing bottled water rather than turning on their tap. This is especially true in North Jersey (e.g. Newark, Jersey City) where Highlands water is still some of the best in the nation. For more information, view NJEF's Bottled Water Power Point.

Fluoride

NJ Environmental Federation is opposed to adding fluoride to New Jersey's public drinking water supplies. Since 2005, NJEF has been successful at helping stop every fluoride mandate presented to date! For more information, visit our anti-water fluoridation web page.

Drugs in Drinking Water

In March 2008, the Associated Press released a story outlining findings from the testing of pharmaceutical drugs in drinking water. It discovered that 34 of 62 cities surveyed did not find drugs because they did not do any testing. Of the 28 cities that did test, all but 2 found something.

A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study of the Passaic Valley Water Commission (the only system in New Jersey that tested) found traces of metabolized heart medication for angina and "mood stabilizers" including carbamezapine. An earlier study of 30 brooks and rivers, including the Passaic and Ramapo, found epilepsy drugs, antiobiotics, deodorants and fuel additives in minute amounts. A 2003 joint Rutgers University and state study found prescription drugs, preservatives and caffeine in tap water around the state.

This suggests that a multitude of drugs and other substances are not only building up in the environment, they are also building up in our bodies. At what rate and with what impact is basically unknown. Currently, eco-toxicity data is available for less than 1% of the human pharmaceuticals. Once USGS and Sea Grant, NY study found these chemicals are already harming reptiles, fish and aquatic species, including reproductive function.

In 2008, NJEF's Campaign Director David Pringle testified before a U.S. Senate Committee on Pharmaceuticals in the Nations Water: Assessing Potential Risks and Actions to Address the Issue. At the hearing, Pringle said the government should take immediate steps toward preventing pollution from drugs in drinking water in order to protect the health of Americans as well as a "modern Noah's Ark" of other animals exposed to pharmaceuticals.

View the archived webcast.

The Precautionary Principle

NJEF is working to prevent harm before it happens-a precautionary policy largely employed in the European Union, but not in the U.S.

For many years the plasticizer, styrene acrylonitrile (SA), leached into the Toms River wells from the nearby Reich Farm Superfund site. It is the probably cause of the childhood cancer cluster. Yet SA was not one of the regulated contaminants routinely monitored for in drinking water or at a superfund site. It took millions of dollars and several years to discover and assess its impact.

Testing water chemical by chemical is very costly and time intensive. That's why the NJDEP, at the request of NJEF, is now conducting two pilot carbon filtration projects (Pannsauken/Merchantville and Paramus) to remove a broader range of "unregulated" contaminants from drinking water. If successful, it might mean that the NJDEP requires more advanced treatment on systems with "families of contaminants" present regardless of whether a standard has been set for them. For more information, view NJEF's Unregulated Contaminants Fact Sheet and Precautionary Principle Fact Sheet.