Morris County, New Jersey: drinking water report. Morris County in north-central New Jersey has about 509,000 residents.
Morris County in north-central New Jersey has about 509,000 residents. The county draws water from a mix of reservoirs (Boonton, Splitrock, Jersey City system) and groundwater wells. New Jersey American Water and Southeast Morris County MUA serve the largest populations. The county's mix of suburban development, former industrial sites, and protected watershed lands creates a complex water quality picture.
The Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. Army research and manufacturing facility in the northern part of the county, has been a Superfund site since 1983. According to the Army's 2024 environmental status report, groundwater contamination from explosives residues, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds extends beyond the facility boundary. PFAS from firefighting foam adds to the contamination profile – monitoring wells near the base showed PFOS at 45 ppt in 2024 testing.
New Jersey's stringent PFAS MCLs (13-14 ppt) have pushed several Morris County water systems to install granular activated carbon treatment. The NJDEP's 2024 compliance report shows that two systems in the county exceeded PFNA limits before treatment upgrades were completed.
Morris County benefits from New Jersey's aggressive PFAS regulation, which forces utilities to act at lower thresholds than federal rules require. Communities near Picatinny Arsenal should pay particular attention to groundwater quality if they rely on private wells.
Start by checking your water for results specific to your address. For private well users near military or industrial sites, a comprehensive test panel is worth the investment. Our water filter guide covers options for the contaminant mix common near military installations. Get your detailed report for trends, and see our New Jersey page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Morris County, NJ.
The EPA places Morris County, NJ in Zone 1 - the EPA's highest-risk category, where the predicted average indoor radon level is above 4 pCi/L. Zone maps predict an area's radon potential from geology and existing indoor readings; they say nothing about a specific house. Testing is the only way to know your own level.
63% of homes in Morris County, NJ were built before 1980, and 19% before 1950. Residential lead paint was banned in 1978, so housing age is the strongest available proxy for lead-paint exposure. This describes the county's housing stock, not any one home.
Modelled annual fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) in Morris County, NJ averages 7.1 µg/m³, within the EPA's annual standard of 9 µg/m³. These are CDC modelled county estimates rather than readings from a specific monitor.
How radon zones work · Air quality by county · Lead exposure guide
Across 68 public water systems serving Morris County, NJ with EPA lead testing on record, 8 (11.8%) reported a 90th-percentile lead result above the EPA's 15 ppb action level, and the median is 5.4 ppb. 32 water systems serving Morris County, NJ carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Lead and Copper Rule | 18 |
| Revised Total Coliform Rule | 9 |
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) | 5 |
| Surface Water Treatment Rule | 4 |
| Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule | 2 |
Source: EPA Lead and Copper Rule 90th-percentile tap sampling and EPA SDWIS Safe Drinking Water Act enforcement records, aggregated from the public water systems serving this county. Figures are counts of water systems, not a test of any individual home or tap.