SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Nearly 200,000 homes in New Jersey will soon be notified about lead pipes being used as water supply lines. Letters are being mailed this week.
This has been in the works for a few years now with the Department of Environmental Protection giving advanced warning to water companies that identifying and replacing lead service lines would be a priority in the Murphy administration.
"We told them in 2018 that we are taking a really hard look at these issues we were going to call in their plans," said DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette.
Despite repeated requests in the last several years, LaTourette said they have not had cooperation from every water system in the state. Still, the state has found at least 186,000 homes with lead pipes and they'll be notified this week. That's only the start, said LaTourette.
"We know that there are over a million lines on those inventories that are of unknown material. The point of the Lead Service Line Replacement Law is for the community water systems to continually update their inventories," he said. "We'll pursue those who have not responded."
So what happens if you get one of these notices? It is not a cause for panic. According to LaTourette, nobody is in immediate danger from this. The goal here is to inform people that those lines have been identified for replacement with more guidance to follow in the coming months.
The DEP wants every lead pipe in the state replaced within 10 years.
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