Elizabeth, NJ tap water quality

Elizabeth's water met New Jersey's PFAS limits in 2025, but PFOA and PFOS were above EPA's national limit of 4 ppt, which utilities must meet by 2029.

Elizabeth, in Union County, has about 141,675 residents. Virtually all of them live inside the service area of New Jersey American Water's Liberty system, according to New Jersey DEP's service area map.

Hardness and lead in Elizabeth's water

Hardness

Up to 143 mg/LUp to 8.4 grains per gallon, soft to hardNew Jersey's recommended upper limit 250 mg/L (for taste and appearance; not enforceable); no federal limit.

Lead, 90th percentile of home taps

2 ppbAction level: 15 ppb, dropping to 10 ppb in November 2027

Up to 8.4 grains per gallon in Elizabeth's report: size a water softener for Elizabeth. See how hard the water is elsewhere in New Jersey.

Filtering Elizabeth's tap water at home

PFOA and PFOS were above the federal limits in this system's report. We found 9 filters with a certified PFOA and PFOS reduction claim (on its own or as part of a total PFAS claim), checked against the manufacturer's performance data sheet; the water system page lists them with a link to each document.

Where does Elizabeth's water come from?

The Liberty system buys its water from New Jersey American Water, Raritan system and Newark Water Dept, according to its 2025 report.

Bills, new service and account questions are handled by New Jersey American Water, which runs the Liberty system: customer service and billing.

Local factors in Elizabeth

Age of homes

73% (margin of error ±3 percentage points) of homes in Elizabeth were built before 1980 (Union County: 78%, New Jersey: 63%; U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024). The utility's water quality report describes water leaving the system, not the plumbing inside a home; why the build year matters for lead.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table B25034 (Year Structure Built).

Lead service lines

New Jersey American Water's service line map, where you can look up your own address, lists 19,268 service lines (the pipes from the water main to each building) in Elizabeth on October 31, 2026. 275 of them (1%) have lead on the utility's side, the property owner's side or both (150 only on the utility's side, 100 only on the owner's side, 25 on both), and New Jersey's 2021 lead service line law requires the utility to replace them, including the part on private property. For 6,041, the material on at least one side hasn't been identified yet (how we count service lines; all towns compared).

Source: New Jersey American Water, service line material map, lines counted inside the town boundary on October 31, 2026; New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, 2022 order quoting the 2021 lead service line law (N.J.S.A. 58:12A-40).

Radon

NJDEP places Elizabeth in Radon Tier 3 (low potential: under 5 percent of tested homes at or above 4 picocuries per liter) based on indoor radon tests (2015). In that report, 4% of the 3,905 homes tested in Elizabeth were at or above 4 picocuries per liter. NJDEP recommends testing every home regardless of tier. How radon tiers work.

Source: New Jersey DEP Radon Section, 2015 Radon Tier Assignment Report; the same figures appear in NJDEP's current municipal tier list.

Known contaminated sites

NJDEP lists 222 sites in Elizabeth where soil or groundwater contamination has been confirmed (October 14, 2026). These are places under cleanup oversight; they do not mean that tap water from the public system is contaminated. The public water system is tested and treated separately.

Source: New Jersey DEP, Known Contaminated Sites List map layer, retrieved October 16, 2026, with site-by-site lists in NJDEP's Known Contaminated Sites reports.

Water and sewer bills

In the Census Bureau's survey (ACS 2020-2024, about this question), 28% (margin of error ±2 percentage points) of occupied homes in Elizabeth pay a separate charge for water and sewer; the rest report no charge or a charge included in other fees, such as rent. Among the homes that pay, 46% (margin of error ±3 percentage points) report $1,000 or more for the year (33% in Union County, 30% statewide), as households report it rather than as the utility bills it.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table B25134 (Annual Water and Sewer Costs).

ZIP codes covering Elizabeth: 07201, 07202, 07206, 07208. Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas.