Passaic Valley Water Commission (PVWC) is committed to removing lead service lines.
PVWC is New Jersey’s largest public drinking water provider, serving over 800,000 consumers in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris and Passaic counties.
PVWC is continuously checking for and removing lead service lines for its consumers, free of charge.
“Passaic Valley Water Commission has always been committed to providing high-quality drinking water to our customers," Patrick Porcaro, Director of Engineering at Passaic Valley Water Commission (PVWC), said.
"Customers in PVWC’s service area should call customer service and make appointments to get their lines checked…they should also know that this is 100% free of charge.“
Lead is not present in the water supplied by PVWC. However, when water has been in contact for several hours or more with service lines containing lead, the lead may dissolve into the drinking water.
High lead levels can cause health issues to organs in the body and that is why Passaic Valley Water Commission (PVWC) takes every measure possible to knock the lead out. Customer cooperation is key in identifying lead lines and can take these steps to reduce lead exposure:
- Test your water for lead, FREE of charge by calling PVWC customer service at 973-340-4300.
- Run your water for at least 30 seconds before using to flush out any possible lead.
- Do not boil water to remove lead. Boiling water does not reduce lead.
- Use cold water for cooking and preparing baby formula as lead dissolves easily into hot water.
When a customer calls and schedules an appointment, a PVWC employee arrives at the property, a visual inspection of the water service entering the building is done and a picture is taken of the lines before and after the meter.
“PVWC’s public outreach team will also host and be present for lead awareness events once life gets back to some sense of normalcy," Porcaro said. "We were attending lead awareness events shortly before the pandemic, so we look forward to continuing that sooner rather than later.”