Winter runoff adding more than a pinch of salt to North Jersey’s drinking water
APRIL 4, 2014, 4:18 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2014, 11:58 PM
BY JAMES O’NEILL
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
After a profusion of snowstorms forced road crews in New Jersey to spread nearly twice as much salt this past winter than the year before, the snowmelt and spring rains are now washing that salt into wetlands and rivers, where it has infiltrated the local drinking water supply and could harm the region’s vegetation and wildlife.
So much salt has been making its way into the water supply that customers of a number of water utilities in the Northeast, including United Water, which serves North Jersey, have complained that their water tastes salty. “That’s a good marker that we’ve had a tough winter here,” said Howard Woods Jr., a private water industry consultant.
The Passaic Valley Water Commission, which provides drinking water to Paterson, Passaic, Clifton and other towns, has also seen sodium levels rise — at one point it was three times normal levels, said Joe Bella, the commission’s director. Too much sodium can exacerbate problems for people on low-salt diets for hypertension and other conditions.
