North Caldwell Water Dep, NJ
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 3.94 ppb (monitoring period 2024-2026). 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
North Caldwell Water Dep serves about 6,000 people through 2,028 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 Essex County, New Jersey. EPA system ID: NJ0715001; phone on file: 973-228-6414. Call that number and ask whether your address has a lead, galvanized or unknown service line.
Lead results over time
That is up 1.07 ppb from 2.87 ppb in the period ending 2023. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for North Caldwell Water Dep is 3.94 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 3.94 ppb |
| 2023 | 2.87 ppb |
| 2020 | 3.1 ppb |
| 2017 | 2.38 ppb |
Against other New Jersey systems
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. North Caldwell Water Dep's 3.94 ppb sits at the 86th percentile in New Jersey and the 87th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Essex County
19 other systems share Essex County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than North Caldwell Water Dep. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Newark Water Department | 294,274 | 4.03 ppb |
| East Orange Water Commission | 75,000 | 1.59 ppb |
| Bloomfield Water Department | 53,315 | 2.2 ppb |
| Montclair Water Bureau | 40,150 | 0 (not detected) |
| Belleville Water Dept | 35,129 | 1.86 ppb |
| Orange Water Dept | 30,134 | 2.02 ppb |
| Nutley Water Dept | 29,500 | 0.55 ppb |
| Livingston Twp Div Of Water | 27,391 | 4.18 ppb |
| South Orange Water Department | 16,964 | 2 ppb |
| Verona Water Department | 13,641 | 0 (not detected) |
Next steps for North Caldwell, NJ
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; North Caldwell, 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 North Caldwell Water Dep 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. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.