SOURCE WATER PROTECTION PLANNING

Source water protection is an ongoing and evolving program to understand and address risks to water supplies. In New Jersey, source water protection programs are typically community-based voluntary efforts that involve planning and implementation of various management strategies.

Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP)

The foundation for source water protection was established on a national level through the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments passed in 1986 and 1996. These amendments created wellhead protection and source water assessment programs and left responsibility for implementing these programs with each state.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)’s SWAP Plan incorporates four main steps:

  1. Determine the source water assessment area of each ground and surface water source of public drinking water.
  2. Inventory the potential contamination sources within the source water assessment area.
  3. Determine the public water system source’s susceptibility to regulated contaminants.
  4. Incorporate public education and participation.

For more information about the SWAP and source water assessment reports, click here.

Our Planning Approach

For more information about how you can get involved in your area, contact us here.

At New Jersey American Water, source water protection is one of several important parts of our overall approach to provide clean, safe water for our customers. Below are some highlights for these initiatives.

Source Water Protection Planning

At New Jersey American Water, we have developed and are implementing voluntary source water protection plans for many of our water supplies. This program follows the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Components of a Source Water Protection Program Wheel and is broken down into two phases, Assessment and Protection.

The seven steps associated with the USEPAs Components of a Source Water Protection Program Wheel can be seen in the below sections. For more information about how you can get involved in your area, please contact us by visiting and filling out our Source Water Protection Question Form.

Source Water Assessment

  • Step 1: Delineate the Source Water Protection Area
    • At New Jersey American Water as delineated our source water protection area of all of our surface water intakes. These areas are reviewed annually or if a new system with a surface water intake is acquired.

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  • Step 2: Inventory Known and Potential Sources of Contamination
    At New Jersey American Water, we have many talented individuals who come from a diverse professional background. Utilizing source water protection area knowledge, professional experiences, chemical inventories, historical contamination records, publicly available data, and many more items, New Jersey American Water has developed a list of Potential Sources of Contamination that are stored in Geographic Information System (GIS) map-based tool called WaterSuite. This tool pulls all of the data sources and pulls it into a single contaminant information database for a defined area of interest. The information can be updated on a regular basis to include the latest information available and has dynamic search and reporting capabilities.

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  • Step 3: Determine the Susceptibility of the Public Water Stem to Contaminants Sources or Activities with the Source Water Protection Area.

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  • Public Outreach and Education
    Step 4: Engage the Public About Threats Identified in the Assessment
    Our source water protection program includes an outreach component to educate the community about their sources of drinking water and things that everyone can do to help protect and improve them. We use various outreach methods including:

Source Water Protection

  • Step 5: Develop an Action Plan to Identify and Prioritize Specific Implementation Activities
    At New Jersey American Water, we have plans in place to track and respond to events that could pose a risk to our sources of drinking water. These plans identify activities or projects that are needed to help mitigate current or future threats to our sources water quality and to improve the resilience of the source water supply.

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  • Step 6: Protect Source of Drinking Water by Implementing Protective Actions
    At New Jersey American Water we use several different source water protection practices, which are actions that are taken to protect surface and ground water sources. In addition, New Jersey American Water also leverages the American Water Charitable Foundation to help provide grant funding for community organizations within our watershed areas that conduct protective actions.

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  • Step 7: Evaluate and Update Action Plan Periodically
    Our source water protection program actively assesses plans and activities in which we determine the effectiveness of management strategies, allowing for an adaptive management approach that is updated periodically.