Newton Water & Sewer Utility, NJ
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.75 ppb (monitoring period 2022-2024). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. Lead was measured in sampled homes but the 90th percentile is under both action levels. EPA's health goal for lead is zero, so test your own tap if your home was built before 1986 or anyone in it is pregnant or a young child.
Who runs the water here
Newton Water & Sewer Utility serves about 8,300 people through 2,421 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Sussex County, New Jersey. EPA system ID: NJ1915001; phone on file: 973-383-8961. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
That is up 1.47 ppb from 1.28 ppb in the period ending 2021. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Newton Water & Sewer Utility is 2.75 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2.75 ppb |
| 2021 | 1.28 ppb |
| 2018 | 2 ppb |
How Newton Water & Sewer Utility compares
Of the 605 New Jersey systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 5 are over 15 ppb right now and 52 have gone over at some point. Newton Water & Sewer Utility's 2.75 ppb sits at the 76th percentile in New Jersey and the 79th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
59 other systems share Sussex County; 25 of them have a higher latest lead result than Newton Water & Sewer Utility. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Sparta Twp Water Utility - Lake Mohawk | 17,625 | 1.01 ppb |
| Hopatcong Water Dept | 7,224 | 9.37 ppb |
| Veolia Water New Jersey Vernon Valley | 5,517 | 0 (not detected) |
| Franklin Bd Of Public Works | 5,500 | 1.09 ppb |
| Stanhope W Dept | 3,730 | 5.88 ppb |
| Hamburg Board Of Public | 3,382 | 2.01 ppb |
| Ogdensburg W Dept | 2,800 | 1.66 ppb |
| Sussex W Dept | 2,201 | 0 (not detected) |
| Montague Water Co. | 2,165 | 2 ppb |
| Hardyston Twp Mua | 1,963 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Newton, NJ may offer free or low-cost kits through the utility. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Newton Water & Sewer Utility whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do.
These figures describe homes the utility sampled, not your tap. Only your service line record or a test of your own water answers the question for your house. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. Size matters more than most people expect: small vs large water systems.