Safe Drinking Water Act Violations 2000

This is New Jersey's fifth annual report prepared to fulfill one of the statutory requirements of the 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. The Safe Drinking Water Act requires States to prepare an annual report on violations of the national primary drinking water regulations by public water systems in the State. This fifth report covers the period January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2000. The information in this report is for violations of (I) maximum contaminant levels, (II) treatment requirements, (III) variances and exemptions, and (IV) monitoring requirements determined to be significant by the Administrator (of USEPA) after consultation with the States. The most significant public health issue reported in these pages is the increase in the number of total coliform MCL violations. NJDEP is taking steps to determine if part of the problem is caused by sample handling or laboratory contamination. Overall, the Bureau of Safe Drinking Water continues to make progress in addressing MCL, treatment technique and monitoring violations. Table 8a (page 19) shows the total number of violations, by contaminant type, for 2000. For comparison, Table 8b (page 20) shows the total number of violations for 1999. Community water systems in New Jersey have done an excellent job of complying with Consumer Confidence Report requirements, as seen by the fact that there were only three Significant Consumer Notification Violations in 2000. There are several areas that still need improvement, with monitoring/reporting (M/R) for small water systems requiring the greatest improvement. The Bureau of Safe Drinking Water has formulated a capacity development strategy to assist public water systems with a history of significant non-compliance to achieve compliance, and has contracted with New Jersey Water Association to provide technical assistance to systems with MCL or M/R violation problems