New Jersey residents in Paterson, Passaic, and parts of Clifton and Woodland Park are starting their sixth week of a boil water advisory after the remnants of Hurricane Ida dirtied their drinking water.
Officials say stormwater runoff contaminated the open reservoir that distributes clean water to about 250,000 people in Paterson and surrounding communities.
"We're almost at the end of the road, just have a little bit more patience with us because we're almost there," Passaic Valley Water Commissioner Ruby Cotton said. She expects the clean up to be done next week.
The state Department of Environmental Protection will have to approve additional water samples before residents can safely drink the tap water again.
Lendel Jones, a spokeswoman for the Passaic Valley Water Commission, said crews have been working nonstop and already flushed 3,000 of the more than 4,000 hydrants to clean out the distribution system.
"The reservoir is millions and millions of gallons of water in there so we had to take the contaminated water out and then replace it with clean water," she said. "And the last step is to flush the hydrants."
It’s not clear what contaminants are in the water but Jones said the reservoir water was turbid and could contain animal feces or other chemicals from the surrounding area.
The Passaic Valley Water Commission has three open reservoirs but only one was contaminated. Officials said the other two reservoirs are on higher ground and are used as back up during the summer months when more water is consumed. She said the system couldn’t just switch to the other reservoir water because parts of the system were likely already contaminated.
“We just wanted to ensure that our customer’s water was safe so the best thing to do was to go to a boil water advisory,” she said. The order was issued on September 2nd.
Cotton said she wants to ensure the agency is prepared for future storms and that includes covering the reservoirs. In 2009, state officials ordered the Passaic Valley Water Commission to cover their reservoirs in line with federal law. The reservoirs, however, remain uncovered.
Jones said she expects the Passaic Valley Water Commission will be able to get reimbursed from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for at least part of the clean up costs and the free bottled water they’ve provided at designated locations.
