Middlesex Water Customers In Clark Receive Tainted Water Notice

CLARK, NJ — Several Middlesex Water customers received a notice in the mail on Thursday alerting them to chemical levels that were "above drinking water standards."

The levels the notice focused on monitor Perfluorooctanoic Acid or PFOA, also known as a"forever chemical" that can be found in most common items like nonstick cookware as well as things like firefighting foam.

Middlesex Water's notice said the last recorded levels on August 2 exceeded the state's maximum allowed contaminant levels for PFOA.

"The MCL [maximum containmant levels] for PFOA is 0.014 micrograms per liter (µg/L) and is based on a running annual average (RAA), in which the four most recent quarters of monitoring data are averaged. On September 7, 2021, we received notice that the sample collected on August 2, 2021 showed that our system exceeds the PFOA MCL. PFOA was found at 36.1 µg/L which caused the RAA to exceed the MCL regardless of the next quarter results," the notice reads.

Middlesex Water said the heightened reading was due to a new shift in standards by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The NJDEP started regulating PFOA's, the chemical mentioned in the notice, last summer. Several community water systems like Middlesex have been hit with violations following the shift in standards.

"We had been in compliance," a spokeswoman for Middlesex Water told Patch, "It's the new, lowered standard that us, as well as many utilities in New Jersey, have difficulty complying with, but at least we're being proactive — we have a plant that we're constructing that will remove the PFOAS in the groundwater."

The notice was issued to customers who have, at any point, received water from the Park Avenue Treatment Plant, which tested above state standards. Middlesex said the notice went to 29,000 customers.

A new treatment plant is in the works, but will not be finished until 2023.

Middlesex Water told Patch they are in the midst of a lawsuit against 3M, one of the manufacturers of PFOA.

"We didn't put the PFOA in the groundwater," a Middlesex Water spokeswoman told Patch, "Only about 20 percent of the entire production of our company comes from groundwater."

The notice sent some customers into a panic, turning to Facebook groups like Rahway Community Voce to talk through the concern.

"Ppl got this in the mail, it's pretty scary because how long has this been going on?" one user posted to the group.

The notice to customers is required by NJDEP. While the elevated test levels came in around Sept. 7 the notice didn't hit customer mailboxes until Thursday. A Middlesex Water spokesperson said the deadline to send the notices was Oct. 22 and the decision to send them on Oct. 21 came after discussions with NJDEP and company officials about what language would be used and who would receive the notice.

The notice mentions those who feel they may be at risk or concerned about the water should talk to their doctor. Middlesex Water officials pointed customers who were concerned to their website FAQ page.