Drinking Water Quality

As a well owner, you have a private water supply. This means that you are in charge of making sure your drinking water is safe along with any help from State or County agencies.  In March 2001, the New Jersey Private Well Testing Act (PWTA) was signed into law, and its regulations went into effect in September 2002. The PWTA is a consumer information law that requires sellers (or buyers) of property with potable wells in New Jersey to test the untreated groundwater for up to 43 parameters.  See more about the testing data in Medford Lakes.

FAQ's

How Good is the Well Water in Medford Lakes?

As a well owner, you have a private water supply. This means that you are in charge of making sure your drinking water is safe along with any help from State or County agencies.  The New Jersey Private Well Testing Act (PWTA) is a consumer information law which became effective in 2002 that requires sellers (or buyers) of property with wells in NJ to test the untreated ground water for a variety of water quality parameters for human health and to review the test results prior to closing of title.  

Although the sampling results for any individual property are not publicly available, New Jersey does make the sampling results publicly available on a state-wide basis, and sortable by municipality.  Results of the well testing can be found online HERE

So, what does the data say about private wells in Medford Lakes?

Results are published by NJDEP for samples drawn from Medford Lakes wells from September 2002 through December 2022, consisting of a total of 938 well samples.  For results through December 2022, none exhibited contaminant levels above EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for mercury, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), or gross alpha.  However, there were exceedances from water drawn from Medford Lakes residential wells for the following analytes:  iron (15.6%), manganese (1.6%), lead (0.5%, data through 2014), fecal coliform (0.2%), nitrate (0.1%) and pH (1.9%).  

Beginning in December 2021, the list of contaminants required for analysis was expanded to include the large family of manmade chemicals known as Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (“PFAS”), which are also commonly referred to as “forever chemicals. No wells tested in Medford Lakes have shown contamination for any of those newly added compounds.  

What do these sample results mean?

The data results indicate that, with very small exception, the water quality in aquifers which Medford Lakes wells draw from are with acceptable ranges for drinking water standards established for protection of human health.  Of the MCLs which have been set for human health standards, the available PWTA data shows that less than 1% have exceeded the MCL, which are for Lead (0.5%), nitrate (0.1%), and fecal coliform (0.3%).  Neither lead contamination nor fecal coliform are attributable to the ground water beneath Medford Lakes.  Lead is a result of leaching from household plumbing and fecal coliform is a result of compromised well heads at the property where surface water can enter the well.  Nitrate contamination (0.1% of wells tested) can be the result of natural deposition, leaching from septic tanks, but within Medford Lakes, is very likely the result of leakage from sanitary sewer lines localized in an area near a shallow well.   

For iron and manganese, the exceedances are for Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level (SMCL). SMCL is a water quality standard for nuisance substances, not a health concern.  (The concern with Iron and Manganese is taste and staining.)   Similarly, there is no health standard for pH, but corrosive water is more likely to contain elevated levels of copper or lead if these materials are in your household plumbing.  

What Treatment Should I Consider?

The Medford Lakes Environmental Commission is not a health entity and does not make any health recommendation for drinking water quality or water treatment options.  However, the following resources provide useful information for consideration and is also summarized below.  

Of these three references, the Rutgers Co-op Extension document is the most comprehensive, the University of Wisconsin document is the most concise and readable, and the University of Rhode Island material is the most specific to residential private wells.  The following is a summary from these sources as relevant to drinking water drawn from Medford Lakes wells. This information includes water treatment options for water quality issues for both human health considerations and for personal preferences such as treating for aesthetics or hardness.

  • Lead:  Although lead is not present in high concentrations in local groundwater, it can still be a significant health hazard in drinking water because most older homes have copper water pipes soldered with lead-containing solder.  In Medford Lakes, lead has been detected in less than 1% of faucet waters tested under PWTA.  Homes with soft water are at a greater risk of lead leaching from solder into the drinking water.  Lead can be removed from tap water by installing point-of-use treatment devices commercially available, which include ion-exchange filters, reverse osmosis devices, and distillation units. 
  •  Fecal Coliform: Coliform bacteria are microorganisms that are found in surface water and soil. In Medford Lakes, fecal coliform has been detected in less than 1% of wells tested under PWTA.  This test is used as an indicator of the sanitary condition of your well.        While coliform bacteria do not usually cause disease, their presence in a water sample indicates a potential pathway for fecal wastes and other disease-causing organisms to enter your well.  If coliform bacteria is present, the water supply is considered bacteriologically unsafe and the well should be inspected, disinfected and repaired. Until the source of the problem is identified and corrected, it is recommended to use an alternative source of drinking water or boiling water for 5 minutes before using for drinking or cooking.  
  •  Nitrate is a chemical commonly found in agricultural and lawn fertilizer. It is also formed when waste materials such as manure, septic effluent, or sanitary sewage system leaks.  In Medford Lakes, nitrate has been detected in less than 1% of wells tested under PWTA.  Only reverse osmosis (RO), distillation and anion exchange are treatment methods capable of reducing nitrate levels. 
  •  Hardness - Hardness measures the amount of calcium and magnesium in water. Hardness is primarily caused by water slowly dissolving rocks that contain calcium and magnesium. There are no health concerns associated with drinking hard water, however it is often undesirable because it can cause lime buildup (scaling) in pipes and water heaters.  Hard water can be softening through using a water softener system. Softened water removes calcium and magnesium and replaces it with another cation (usually sodium).  
  •  Iron and Manganese – Iron and manganese are considered secondary contaminants, as they do not have human health concern, but have water quality standards established as nuisance substances.  Both of these can create a bitter taste and leave a brownish color to laundered clothing and stains plumbing fixtures with a characteristic rust color.
  •  Hydrogen Sulfide(Rotten Egg Odor) - In groundwater, hydrogen sulfide is produced from natural processes of decay.  It can corrode iron, steel, or copper parts of pumps, pipes and fixtures, releasing fine black particles in water (commonly called black water).        As an aesthetic concern in drinking water, there is no established drinking water standard.  Since you can smell and taste it, there’s no need to test to find it. Corrective actions include a whole-house treatment system if levels of these substances are high, or a treatment system installed at the kitchen sink for drinking and cooking water.        Additionally, a simple treatment is passive aeration - by filling a pitcher or other container and letting the water sit for a few hours before use to remove the odor.  
  •  Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs):  Sources of VOCs in groundwater include solvents, degreasers, and components of gasoline and fuel oil.  A well drawing water from an unconfined aquifer is especially vulnerable to these sources.  If your well is less than 120’ in depth (or if you do not know the depth of your well) an Activated Carbon system should also be considered, even though no published well samples in Medford Lakes have exceeded the MCL for VOCs under PWTA.   This is because solvents and fuel oils, (including from home heating oil tank leaks) contain water-soluble constituents which can be introduced to the groundwater relatively close to your well and spread very readily, especially in more shallow wells that are closer to the ground surface.         Some VOC treatment options treat limited amounts of water (point-of-use) and some treat the whole house (point-of-entry).  Point-of-use systems, include a “pour through” pitcher that sits on a counter that contains a small carbon filter, a filter system that fits over the kitchen faucet or below the kitchen sink, which treat just the water from the kitchen tap, and whole-house (point-of-entry) systems. 

Well Depth – Why It Also Matters

When addressing water testing and treatment options for well water, it’s important to note that there are two separate drinking water sources from which Medford Lakes drinking water wells draw.   The testing data from Medford Lakes private wells does not differentiate between which aquifer the water sample was drawn from.  

 These are subterranean flowing springs which are called aquifers and each aquifer is fed by different open areas at the surface (recharge zones) and have different characteristics, based on their surrounding soils and geology.  The drafting depth of an aquifer is the distance beneath the surface from which water can be drawn through pumping.  

The two aquifers closest to the surface in Medford Lakes are the Kirkwood-Cohansey and the Mt. Laurel-Wenonah, from which most (if not all) drinking water in the Borough is pulled.   

  • The Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer begins within a few feet of the ground surface and runs down to a depth of about 120 feet (at Medford Lakes).  The K-C is what is called an unconfined aquifer and covers the largest surface area of any aquifer in NJ. Its recharge area encompasses all of Medford Lakes and most of Medford to the northeast (upgradient).        
  • The Mt. Laurel-Wenonah aquifer lies beneath a clay layer under the K-C which separates the two aquifers.  The recharge zone for the Mt. Laurel-Wenonah aquifer is along a line parallel northwest of Medford Township.  This aquifer provides water to wells which draw at a dept from 230’-300’ beneath the surface (in Medford Lakes).  

The aquifer from which you draw is determined by the depth of your well.  Drinking water drawn from the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer (<120’ well depth) is more susceptible to contaminants than water drawn from Mt. Laurel-Wenonah aquifer (230’–300’ well depth) because the water which recharges it has a much shorter pathway to your well head, and any contaminants introduced with the water go through much less natural filtration and microbial degradation as it passes through pore spaces in the surrounding soils.    

If you do not know the depth of your well, you can either contact your well driller (if known) or obtain the information from its drilling permit record  from NJDEP Division of Water Supply and Geoscience.  

How Do I Have My Well Tested?

The state does monitor and test the water in all aquifers in the state.  However, the only way the know the quality and physical properties of water from any specific location and depth is to analyze water from the specific drinking water tap source, as this would detect lead and/or fecal coliform, which are commonly introduced after the groundwater passes through the wellhead.   

If you are interested in finding a current list of certified water testing labs, contact the Burlington County Health Department 609-265-5000, or the  NJDEP Office of Quality Assurance (OQA), at 609-292-3950 or e-mail: oqa@dep.nj.gov.

To Obtain More Information

Contact the Borough at 609-654-8898 and ask to be contacted by the Environmental Commission.