New study finds prevalence in more than 90% of NJ’s sampled rivers and lakes
Benjamin J. Hulac, Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON — A new survey of water quality across the country found a widespread presence of dangerous chemicals from coast to coast, including in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.
Using federal water data from the Environmental Protection Agency, the report from a coalition of environmental organizations found significant of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS chemicals, detected at roughly 83% of 1,602 locations nationwide.
In New Jersey, the prevalence exceeded 90% of sampled sites.
“They’re everywhere,” said Robert Laumbach, an associate professor in the environmental and occupational health department at the Rutgers School of Public Health who is conducting his own research of PFAS in New Jersey’s waters. “They’re even in rainwater.”
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The authors drew on samples taken from rivers, lakes, streams and other surface-level bodies of water between 2022 and 2024, documenting their work in an interactive map.
Within New Jersey alone, PFAS chemicals were detected at 78 of 86 locations sampled, or 91%, according to the report, titled “PFAS in America’s Rivers and Lakes,” which the environmental advocates and policy groups published Wednesday.
The report provides another ominous snapshot of the spread of so-called “forever chemicals” in the state’s surface waters, which help provide drinking water for millions of New Jersey residents. At the same time, New Jersey has been especially aggressive compared to other states in seeking to limit the release of PFAS, recently reaching historic settlements with two manufacturers.
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“Our waterways should be clean and free of toxic chemicals,” said Doug O’Malley, the state director for Environment New Jersey Research and Policy Center. “Yet PFAS contamination of our rivers and streams is widespread.”
For instance: PFAS chemicals were found in 98% of samples pulled from the lower Delaware River, south of Trenton, according to the new report. The chemicals — widely used in the manufacture of cookware, clothing, fast-food containers, packaging and other items — gained their nickname due to their composition and extreme durability that makes them slow to disintegrate.
Managing microplastics across the Delaware River WatershedThe chemicals have been linked to kidney cancer, liver problems, high blood pressure, endocrine effects, weakened immune systems and complications during pregnancy, including preeclampsia and hypertension.
“They’re all very persistent,” Laumbach said of the array of PFAS chemicals, which number in the thousands. “The carbon-fluorine bond [in PFAS chemicals] is one of the strongest bonds in the universe.”
“The fact that they’re in surface water is particularly concerning,” said Laumbach, the Rutgers researcher who is working on a separate long-term study of PFAS contamination in Paulsboro.
Laumbach recommended people with private wells check their water for PFAS contamination and encourage the public to limit their consumption of fish. But addressing the pollution demands a government response to industrial-level contamination, he said.
“There’s not a lot that people can do, and that’s why it needs to be regulated at the source,” Laumbaugh said.
In the nation’s largest settlement by a single state, New Jersey regulators reached a $2 billion settlement against DuPont, one of the early manufacturers of PFAS substances, in 2025 with an agreement that included $1.2 billion clean-up costs.
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Another recent settlement bound Chemours, a business that was spun off from DuPont in 2015, to pay $22.5 million to remediate alleged violations across three states: New Jersey, North Carolina and West Virginia.
Under that deal, Chemours agreed to pay $90 million to limit PFAS discharges, including in Deepwater, a section of Pennsville Township in Salem County.
The Environment New Jersey Research and Policy Center, NJPIRG Student Chapters, and the Frontier Group advocacy organization contributed to the report. They seized on the results to demand the phaseout of PFAS materials and the prohibitions against industrial sites release of PFAS into waters, among other objectives.
The good news was in several regions in New Jersey where the report’s authors found water samples without PFAS contamination. They were among the less-populated stretches of the state, included the Pine Barrens of South Jersey and in the Delaware Water Gap, along the Pennsylvania state border.
Courtesy: NJ Spotlight News