Many parts of New Jersey face stressed drinking water supplies

Residents in parts of New Jersey use tens of millions of gallons more water a day than their watersheds can safely supply – and other areas of the state could soon be in similar stress according to a state report.

Demand in much of Salem and Cumberland counties outstrips local supply by 70 million gallons a day. In Atlantic County, the deficit is 25 million gallons daily. 

In large portions of Essex, Union and Middlesex counties, which the Rahway River runs through, demand outstrips available local supply by 13 million gallons each day. And in a region that includes the parts of Morris, Sussex and Essex counties served by the upper reaches of the Passaic River watershed, the current 2 million daily deficit could grow to 5 million a day by 2020, according to the state's new water supply plan. 

Other areas could also soon become stressed. Bergen and Hudson counties, which mostly get their water from the Hackensack River, could see demand consume all but a million gallons per day of the region’s daily supply of 127 million gallons by 2020, the state said.

It could have been worse. While New Jersey’s population grew by 15 percent between 1990 and 2015, overall drinking water use remained relatively stable, thanks to more efficient household appliances and plumbing fixtures. In addition, industrial water use declined in that period.

But residents are using growing amounts of treated drinking water on suburban lawns and landscaped yards, an inefficient use of water that concerns officials. They say the trend can further stress local water systems, especially during peak summer demand periods.

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The newest version of the state Water Supply Plan, released by the state Department of Environmental Protection last week, is the first update since 1996, even though by law the plan is supposed to be updated every five years. 

"It’s been a long review process and we’re happy to have it on the street now," said Dan Kennedy, the DEP’s assistant commissioner for water supply issues.

DEP officials touted the update, saying it provides a more precise picture of the state’s water use and future needs because of more detailed data. "The data is so much better this time around, so we have a much better understanding of where the stresses are," said Jeffrey L. Hoffman, the state geologist.

But some water experts criticized the state's report, saying it identifies water problems without providing a detailed blueprint to fix them. They also say the plan looks at regions too broadly, which can mask serious water problems at the local level.

"The plan appears to be showing that demand will soon be exceeding available supply," said Robert Kecskes, a retired water expert with the DEP. "With this in mind, a much more robust approach than what is being proposed is warranted."

Jennifer Coffey, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, said she has "grave concerns" about the plan. 

"There's an overall lack of predicted outcomes, measurable results, and planned actions to secure water supply," she said. "There are no concrete plans, no solutions for funding, no benchmarks to help us know we’re proceeding in the right direction."

Daniel Van Abs, a water supply expert at Rutgers University who helped develop the state's 1996 water plan, agreed. He said he was "quite concerned about the minimal detail in the plan with regard to actions the state should take going forward. There's text about what the state has done and is doing, but nothing about commitments for the future, no objectives, nothing that says our target is this or we should do that. That concerns me.

"And I'm troubled the projections for future water demand only go to 2020 - that's just three years away. Water projects take decades to carry out," he said.

New Jersey uses about 1.3 billion gallons of water per day, with a supply surplus of 211 million gallons, the state's plan said. The report estimates that by 2020, demand for drinking water will rise by an additional 110 million gallons a day, inching the state closer to maxing out its available supply.

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The DEP estimates water supply for a region by considering how much water can be taken from rivers and reservoirs without reducing streamflow to levels that would harm a river’s ecosystem - called the safe yield. Those areas in deficits have been taking so much extra water that in a drought they could quickly cause streams to run dry, Van Abs said.

Currently, some areas supplement their local water supply by importing water from other parts of the state with surplus supplies. For instance, the Suez water supply system that includes three reservoirs on the Hackensack to serve most of Bergen and Hudson counties also gets water pumped over from the Passaic River watershed through the Wanaque Reservoir.

"We need to get more water into those" stressed regions, Hoffman said, especially since some businesses and farms are not even taking all the water that their current state water permits allow.

Seeing so many stressed or potentially stressed regions of the state "is extremely alarming," said Coffey. "There’s not enough water and we’re stressing the ecosystem. So we need concrete policy recommendations to make sure we don’t end up with water deficits.

"This is an environmental issue, it’s a drinking water security issue, but it’s also an economic issue, because we have some big companies in New Jersey such as Mars, Goya Foods and Anheuser-Busch that use a lot of water, and they need to know going forward that they’ll have good clean water here to continue operating in New Jersey," Coffey said.

The plan tries to predict future water needs, but also looks at water use trends for the state between 1990 and 2015. In that time, industrial use declined, as some water-intense industries moved away, and some coal-fired power plants that use lots of water for cooling were taken offline.

During that period, drinking water use remained relatively stable despite a population increase. That was due in part to more water-efficient dishwashers and washing machines, as well as low-flow toilets and shower heads.

Redevelopment in the state’s urban areas, such as Newark, Jersey City and Hoboken, has also helped. People who live in apartment complexes or high rise condos often use less water than those who own suburban homes with yards, Kennedy said.

Those trends helped individual daily water use decrease from about 155 gallons per day to 125 gallons per day between 1990 and 2015 – a 19 percent drop.

Despite that, the increased outdoor use for lawn and garden watering remains a concern.

"Generally, New Jersey has sufficient water available to meet needs into the foreseeable future," the report says – but adds important caveats.

It says the state must increase water efficiency by conserving and reusing water, and invest in upgrades to the state’s old water delivery system. Some pipes are so decrepit that as much as 25 percent or more of treated water leaks out before it ever reaches customers.

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"That issue is more of a concern now than ever, because we know we’re losing 20 to 40 percent of treated drinking water through these aging pipes," said Chris Sturm, managing director for policy and water at New Jersey Future, a nonprofit that advocates a balance between economic development and environmental protection.

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"The plan says we have adequate water for economic growth but we need to stay vigilant and focus on conservation efforts and infrastructure improvements," said Kennedy. "This isn’t a call that everything will be fine forever."

Conservation and reuse of dirty water could be a tough sell, water experts said.

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Even utilities in drought-prone western states have had a hard time getting public buy-in on water conservation efforts, said Howard Woods Jr., a private consultant to water utilities and a former water company executive.

"People still wanted their green lawns, and I think there’s a bit of that attitude in New Jersey," Woods said. "Customers don’t want to hear about conservation – they want their nice lawn and swimming pool. If the public doesn’t want to engage in conservation, it won’t happen."

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The DEP concedes that public attitudes about conservation are "a challenge," Kennedy said. "We need to educate residents on a range of options to be part of the solution."

Coffey considered public distaste for conservation a manageable hurdle. "Just because a problem is hard doesn’t mean we can’t tackle it," she said.

Some drought-prone areas out west have provided tax credits to encourage people to tear up their lawns and plant native species that require little water, she said.

"We should be looking to promote that as well," she said.

"The biggest thing homeowners can do is fix the leaks – that toilet that keeps running, the faucet that drips," Coffey said.

The plan also discusses several large projects that could help transfer water from one part of the state to another during droughts or other water emergencies.

"That’s what making our water supply resilient is all about," Kennedy said.

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For instance, the plan describes a project mentioned in prior DEP reports – upgrading the Virginia Street pump station in Newark so water could be sent from the Round Valley Reservoir and Raritan River system in central New Jersey to Newark. That in turn could free up some water from Newark’s reservoirs in North Jersey that could be sent instead to Bergen County. Reverse transfers of water could also occur from North Jersey to central Jersey if needed. The DEP has not yet evaluated the feasibility of the project.

Some environmental advocates also criticized the plan for a lack of details about the potential impacts of climate change on the state’s water supply. Warmer temperatures could lead to longer growing seasons, which would increase water demand for irrigation, said Jeff Tittel, head of the Sierra Club of New Jersey.

Sea level rise could also exacerbate salt water intrusion into the aquifers that much of southern and coastal New Jersey relies on for drinking water, he said. And he said the plan doesn’t address the loss of some water sources due to contamination.

The DEP is taking public comments on the plan until July 19. It will also hold three public meetings, including one at the Millburn Public Library at 3 p.m. on July 12.

The public can send comments about the plan to the DEP at watersupply@dep.nj.gov. Write "Draft Water Supply Plan Comments" in the subject line.

The plan is available online at http://bit.ly/2pe9bhK.