Water softeners and filtration in Middlesex County

Local findings

• PFAS treatment at Middlesex Water

  Middlesex Water found PFOA above New Jersey's limit at its Park Avenue wellfield in South Plainfield and put a $52 million treatment plant into full service in 2023.

  Source: Middlesex Water: PFAS treatment plant in service

Across the region

• Arsenic in private wells

  New Jersey's Piedmont region has the state's highest rate of arsenic in private wells: about 17% exceed the state standard. It comes naturally from minerals in the bedrock, and you can't see, taste, or smell it.

• Acidic, iron-prone well water

  This area sits on the sandy aquifers of the Coastal Plain. Water in the widely used Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer is naturally acidic, which can corrode pipes and leave blue-green stains, and some aquifers here carry a lot of iron. USGS testing also found radium above the federal limit in about a third of sampled Kirkwood-Cohansey wells in southern New Jersey.

• PFAS limits

  New Jersey was the first state to set limits for PFAS "forever chemicals": 14 parts per trillion for PFOA and 13 for PFOS and PFNA. Public utilities must meet them. Private wells are only tested when a home is sold or leased.

• Hardness varies by town

  New Jersey's median tap water is moderately hard, about 5 grains per gallon, and it changes a lot from one supplier to the next. Your water test tells you exactly where you stand.