By Patricia Hilliard • Hudson County Group Chair
New Jersey’s water supply is facing many threats. Many of the solutions are available to us, if we put pressure on our leaders to insist on potable water.
Drought, such as we had in 2024, reduces the availability of fresh water from reservoirs. Excess rain, such as we had in 2023, floods Superfund sites, flushing toxins into surrounding groundwater.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and lead in drinking water contribute to pollution of water supplies. When it’s warm, toxic algae blooms contaminate lakes and reservoirs.
Broken water mains cause the loss of quality drinking water, and excessive take from local water sources by industry causes unequal distribution of available supplies.
Roofing and parking lots block water from going into underground aquifers, and the rising ocean level is driving saltwater into aquifers and farther into freshwater rivers.
Scientists tell us that climate change will cause the oceans to rise higher—at least 1 foot this century. In New Jersey, saltwater is seeping into our aquifers and putting farmland at risk. South Jersey beach towns and agricultural regions will also need reliable freshwater supplies.
Contaminated Water
There are basic ways to purify water. It can be boiled, then condensed, which leaves the toxins behind while potable water is drained off for use.
Filtering is another way to purify water. A special fabric mesh can be used that holds back toxins like salt, excess iron, cadmium, chromium, and PFAS from the water. Other filtering methods may use electricity or special chemicals to bind toxins and draw them out of the water.
Unfortunately, heating, condensing, and filtering often involve the use of fossil fuels and mined chemicals. Cleaning our water supply should not create additional environmental hazards.
Research is needed to find fibers from natural products to filter water effectively. Wind turbines and solar energy can be used to operate the pumps that drive water through the reverse osmosis filters of the desalination/water filtering process.
Desalination in Cape May
Cape May has done it. In 2000, the town gained the distinction of being the only city in the Northeast to possess a desalination plant.
In the mid-1990s, Cape May’s municipal wells, drilled into the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer, were threatened by the ocean’s rising brine. The city could no longer provide enough freshwater for the tourist industry and local population, so they made a radical decision. They decided to construct a plant that uses reverse osmosis filtering that would allow the city to continue to draw from wells that would otherwise be too salty for use.
Many government officials saw the value of this effort. They helped push for city bonds and federal grants to accomplish this task. A state-of-the-art plant was built, and soon, adequate amounts of potable water were again available.
By July 2023, the plant needed upgrades and expansion to meet the demands for drinking water. Approvals and money for the expansion have been lined up.
Much of the funding is coming from US Department of Agriculture grants. The upgrade will include a new building and complete modernization of infrastructure, including the use of solar power.
With more examples like this, New Jersey could lead the way with renewable energy applied to the water problem. Desalination using fossil fuel energy has a far greater emissions footprint and is undesirable.
Fortunately, science makes it possible to solve many of the problems we face, but it takes support from the public to insist that our water resources be purified, restored, and protected. Your dollars help us support good legislation that protects our clean water resources!
Resources
Desalination Plan: https://shorturl.at/gT9VW
Desalination Progress: https://shorturl.at/gdq0n