Is the Water Safe in Newark, NJ?
The 1 public water system serving Newark, New Jersey (population 294,274) average a Water Safety Score of 5/100, with a worst grade of F. These systems have 22 health-based violations and 11 contaminant exceedances on record.
Safety & Violations
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Average Safety Score | 5/100 (F worst) |
| Public Water Systems | 1 |
| Population Served | 294,274 |
| Health Violations | 22 |
| Monitoring Violations | 5 |
| Contaminant Exceedances | 11 |
| Enforcement Actions | 101 |
Contaminants Detected in Newark
| Contaminant | Detected | EPA Limit (MCL) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) | 0.081 mg/l | 60 mg/l | Exceeds limit |
| Total Trihalomethanes | 0.09 mg/l | 80 mg/l | Exceeds limit |
| Total Coliform (TCR) | 2.5 % positive | 5 % positive | Within limit |
| Combined Filter Effluent | 0.5 NTU | 1 NTU | Within limit |
| Cyanide | 100 ppb | 200 ppb | Within limit |
| Chlorine | 2 ppm | 4 ppm | Within limit |
Detected levels are the highest reported across Newark systems for each contaminant. MCL = EPA Maximum Contaminant Level, the legal safety ceiling. Source: EPA SDWIS monitoring data.
Frequently Asked Questions
The 1 public water system serving Newark, New Jersey (population 294,274) average a Water Safety Score of 5/100, with a worst grade of F. These systems have 22 health-based violations and 11 contaminant exceedances on record.
Monitoring data for Newark, New Jersey shows 6 distinct contaminants detected in the public water supply — Haloacetic Acids (HAA5), Total Trihalomethanes, Total Coliform (TCR), Combined Filter Effluent, Cyanide, and others. Of these, 2 exceeded the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level.
Newark, New Jersey is served by 1 public water system, together supplying water to roughly 294,274 people. The worst safety grade among them is F.
Yes. 2 contaminants exceeded the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) in Newark: Haloacetic Acids (HAA5), Total Trihalomethanes. An exceedance means a detected level was higher than the legal safety limit at least once during monitoring.
The Water Safety Score (0-100, graded A-F) weighs health-based violations (40%), contaminant exceedances (30%), enforcement history (20%), and monitoring violations (10%), using EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) data from the last 10 years.
Request your utility's annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), consider an independent test from a state-certified lab, and use an NSF-certified filter targeting any contaminant of concern. For lead specifically, run cold water 30 seconds before drinking.
More about Newark
The 1 public water system serving Newark, New Jersey (population 294,274) average a Water Safety Score of 5/100, with a worst grade of F. These systems have 22 health-based violations and 11 contaminant exceedances on record.
This answer pulls from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), the authoritative federal source for U.S. public drinking-water safety. The headline number above is the direct answer; what follows is the additional context most readers need to use the answer for a real decision rather than just a fact lookup.
A practical caveat: the headline answer above reflects the most recent the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) vintage; underlying data is often revised for months after first publication, and the right reference for any specific decision is whichever vintage is current at the time of the decision. The as-of date is stamped on every page.
Source: EPA Ground Water and Drinking Water, 2026.