Community Water System · PWSID NJ0211001

Elmwood Park Water Dept

Serves 20,374 peopleSurface Water PurchasedOwner: Local GovernmentElmwood Park Boro, New Jersey
Nothing open that measures the water, but 2 open testing or paperwork violations.

A missed test is not evidence of bad water. It also is not evidence of good water: for that period nobody checked.

On record since 1994: 18 violations. 3 over the limit · 11 missed or late tests · 4 notices or reports. Most recent began 2025-02-01.

For this year's test results, ask the utility for its annual Consumer Confidence Report. Every community system must publish one.

3Over the limit
0Treatment lapse
11Missed or late test1 open
4Notice or report1 open

More violations on record than 84% of active water systems in New Jersey. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

1994 · Missed or late test: 119951997 · Missed or late test: 12000200520102011 · Notice or report: 12013 · Notice or report: 120152016 · Over the limit: 12016 · Missed or late test: 22016 · Missed or late test: 22017 · Over the limit: 12017 · Notice or report: 12018 · Over the limit: 12018 · Missed or late test: 12018 · Notice or report: 120202022 · Missed or late test: 12023 · Missed or late test: 12024 · Missed or late test: 32024 · Missed or late test: 32024 · Missed or late test: 32025 · Missed or late test: 12025
One square = one violation, by the year it began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
17% over the limit · 361% missed or late test · 1122% notice or report · 4

Across New Jersey, 74% of violations are missed or late tests and 2% are water over a limit.

How far over the limit

at the limit2×5×10×100×+Trihalomethanes (TTHM)2018-04-01 · Trihalomethanes (TTHM): measured 0.0850 MG/L vs limit 0.0800 MG/L (1.1×)2017-01-01 · Trihalomethanes (TTHM): measured 0.0840 MG/L vs limit 0.0800 MG/L (1.1×)2016-10-01 · Trihalomethanes (TTHM): measured 0.0830 MG/L vs limit 0.0800 MG/L (1.0×)
Each dot is one over-the-limit violation: the measured value divided by the limit it broke, on a log scale. Most legal limits for chemicals are running averages set for a lifetime of drinking, so “just over” and “ten times over” are very different news. Hover a dot for the numbers.

Lead & copper at the tap

Utilities sample taps in homes most likely to have lead pipes, and report the 90th-percentile result: 9 in 10 homes sampled came in at or below this number. Above the red line (the action level) the utility must act. The action level is not a safe level; EPA's health goal for lead is zero. EPA's file does not date these results, so they are shown highest first.

Lead, 90th percentile 5 results on file · action level 15 ppb

0.14 ppb
0 ppb
0 ppb
0 ppb
0 ppb

Open now (2)

  1. 2024-10-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/ROpen
  2. 2018-10-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2025-02-01Surface water treatment (SWTR)Monitoring of Treatment (SWTR-Filter)Back in compliance
  2. 2024-10-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/ROpen
  3. 2024-04-09Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Failure Submit IDSE/Subpart V Plan RptBack in compliance
  4. 2024-04-08Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Failure Submit IDSE/Subpart V Plan RptBack in compliance
  5. 2023-10-17Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Failure Submit IDSE/Subpart V Plan RptBack in compliance
  6. 2022-04-08Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Failure Submit IDSE/Subpart V Plan RptBack in compliance
  7. 2018-10-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingOpen
  8. 2018-04-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, Averagemeasured 0.0850 MG/L · limit 0.0800 MG/LBack in compliance
  9. 2018-01-14Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Failure Submit IDSE/Subpart V Plan RptBack in compliance
  10. 2017-08-11Revised Total Coliform RuleRPTBack in compliance
  11. 2017-01-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, Averagemeasured 0.0840 MG/L · limit 0.0800 MG/LBack in compliance
  12. 2016-10-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, Averagemeasured 0.0830 MG/L · limit 0.0800 MG/LBack in compliance
  13. 2016-09-01Surface water treatment (SWTR)Monitoring of Treatment (SWTR-Filter)Back in compliance
  14. 2016-01-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Failure Submit IDSE/Subpart V Plan RptBack in compliance
  15. 2013-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  16. 2011-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  17. 1997-10-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance
  18. 1994-07-02Lead and Copper RuleInitial Tap Sampling for Pb and CuBack in compliance

System details

Population served20,374
Service connections5,300
Water sourceSurface Water Purchased
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CityElmwood Park Boro
EPA ZIP on file07407

Areas served

  • Bergen County

Reading this record

Elmwood Park Water Dept is a community water system that draws from surface water purchased and serves about 20,374 people in Elmwood Park Boro, New Jersey. Everything above comes from the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), where states report every violation by every public water system.

Four kinds of violation. Only one is a measurement of the water: over the limit means a test came back above a legal maximum (an MCL). A treatment lapse means a required protective step was not done, such as disinfection, filtration, fixing a defect an inspector found, or filing a lead-pipe inventory. A missed or late test means a required test was skipped or never reported. That is the most common kind, and the most misread: it does not mean the water was bad, and it does not mean the water was fine. Notices and reports covers public notices and the annual Consumer Confidence Report.

Status. “Back in compliance” means the state recorded a return to compliance. “Period ended” means the violation's compliance period is over but no return to compliance was ever filed, which is common in older records. EPA's federal copy lags state records by months, so call the utility for anything current.