Lead in NJ water: Suez to remove 50,000 feet of lead pipes this year in Bergen, Hudson

About 25 percent of the lead pipes in Bergen and Hudson counties will be replaced this year under a plan unveiled Thursday by the Suez water company to help reduce high lead levels found in water pouring from the taps of homes last year. 

The $15 million project will remove 50,000 feet of lead pipes — the equivalent of 34 Empire State Buildings laid end to end — in more than a dozen towns and cities served by the Paramus-based division of the worldwide company.

“It was important to us to make sure that our customers in these homes know we are doing everything we can for them,” Mark McKoy, vice president and general manager, said in a statement.

In what it calls a "sweeping attack," Suez will replace more than 9 miles of pipes beginning with eight towns that have the highest number of lead service lines — the pipes that connect the water main to the property line. They are: 

• Teaneck
• Rutherford
• Hackensack
• Ridgefield Park
• Bogota
• North Bergen
• Union City
• West New York. 

The announcement comes a month after officials in several towns complained that Suez was moving too slowly to replace its lead lines at the minimum-mandated rate of 7 percent a year.

Oradell Borough Council President Tracy Schoenberg, who led the fight to get Suez to increase its replacement efforts, said she was pleased with both the announcement and the choice of towns, because they have the greatest concentration of lead lines.

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But Schoenberg said she wants to know what Suez's plan is beyond 2019. 

"It's great that they're doing 25 percent this year, but will they be able to keep up that pace in the next three years so they can get all of their lead out of the system?" she said. "It puts communities like mine on the back burner without any firm idea of when they're going to start work here."

The story continues after the photo gallery.

Suez announced in January that it had found high levels of the toxic metal in 16 of 108 homes it tested in the second half of 2018 — the most the company has ever recorded. That number has been lowered to 15 homes due to a recent analysis of the data by the state Department of Environmental Protection. 

Lead levels fluctuated greatly among the 108 homes, with an average of 18.3 parts per billion even though 45 homes had no detectable levels at all. The highest was 200 parts per billion. 

A water provider must take action to control corrosion if lead concentrations exceed 15 parts per billion in more than 10 percent of customer taps sampled.

But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said water should be free of lead because of the lasting harm it can do, especially in young children.

Lead is a likely carcinogen, and it can affect almost every organ and system in the body, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. 

Newark, which also has had high lead levels detected in homes, launched a $75 million program this month to replace 15,000 lead service lines. 

On Thursday, Suez executives said crews will also replace lead service lines in eight other towns that have smaller pockets of the toxic metal: 

• East Rutherford
• Little Ferry 
• Wallington
• Lodi
• River Vale
• Alpine
• Old Tappan
• Upper Saddle River

As many as 100 lead lines will be replaced each week. Work will begin in early April.

The news drew mixed reviews from environmental groups Clean Water Action and the New Jersey Sierra Club, which applauded the rollout but questioned what Suez has planned beyond this year. 

Less than 5 percent of Suez's pipes have lead, and 12 percent of its system has lead goosenecks, the pipes that connect the water main to the service line.

Most of the company's water comes from the Oradell Reservoir, where it is filtered and leaves the plant with no detectable lead. The water becomes contaminated from lead pipes connected to the water main in the street and plumbing fixtures in homes.

Getting your home tested 

• Suez customers can find out if they may be served by a lead line by checking their online account at mysuezwater.com/njwq, visiting SUEZWQ.com, or calling or emailing the customer service center at 800-422-5987 and sueznjcustserv@suez-na.com.
• Suez will test homes that are served by a company-owned lead service line for free. 
•  A water filter that removes lead will be provided to a customer if those test results are above the government standard.

Check back for updates to this article.

Editor's Note: If your home is served by Suez and has been tested for lead, we would like to hear from you. Please contact Scott Fallon at fallon@northjersey.com.