Plainfield, New Jersey

What is the Water Quality in Plainfield, New Jersey?

Compared to other US cities, Plainfield water quality ranks in the high range for contamination excluding Lead.

Most of their 34 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at very high levels: 69x health guidelines.
• PFOA, a “forever chemical”, is at particularly high levels: 1782x health guidelines.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Plainfield’s water.

What’s in Plainfield water?

Here are the top 7 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

1. Arsenic – Potential effect: Cancer
2. Bromodichloromethane – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer
6. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer
7. Uranium – Potential effect: Cancer

These are seven of the 34 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

17 of these contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.

Does Plainfield, New Jersey have Lead contamination?

Yes, Plainfield has lead in its water. Lead samples collected in 2019 showed concentrations up to 11.0 parts per billion.

The legal limit for lead is 15 parts per billion. Being well-below this level is a good thing.

• Concentrations between 3.8 ppb and 15 ppb put a formula-fed baby at risk of elevated blood lead levels. Read more about the symptoms of Lead in water.

There is no safe level of lead for humans.

• The good news is that 99.99% of the lead can be removed.

See the What Can You Do? section below to learn how to filter out contaminants.

Where does Plainfield’s water come from?

Plainfield’s water comes from the Green Brook watershed.

All eight (8) waterbodies in the Green Brook watershed are in Impaired condition:

• Bound Brook (below fork at 74º25’15”)
• Green Brook – multiple sections
• South Fork of Bound Brook
• Spring Lake Fork of Bound Brook
• Stony Brook (North Plainfield)

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition. See below for what you can do to improve Plainfield’s water.

Learn more from How’s My Waterway here

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Plainfield, New Jersey can be surprising and downright scary.

But there are things you can do in your home to clean up your water.

To Remove Lead and Other Contaminants In Your Home:

There is one solution that beats Brita, PUR, and expensive whole house systems.

• It costs less per gallon.
• Needs fewer filter changes.
• And it doesn’t make your water taste weird.

• Use Berkey filters with activated carbon to filter out at least 80.6% of contaminants in Plainfield drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Plainfield water.
  • Brita can filter 18 and Lead depending on the filter.
  • Note: We may receive a commission if you decide to purchase filters through links on this page.
• To filter out 31 of the 34 contaminants (91.2%), consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your house.
  • These are typically more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but may require fewer filter changes over time.
  • They also have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Arsenic
    • Chromium (hexavalent)
    • Molybdenum
    • Nitrate
    • Strontium

In Your Community:

Contact your local government officials and put pressure on them to invest in cleaner waterways and upgraded city water filtration and treatment.

Go to: https://www.plainfieldnj.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other New Jersey Cities

New Jersey Water Quality Page