New Jersey tap water / Towns / Salem County
Penns Grove, NJ tap water quality
The 2025 report from the utility that serves Penns Grove doesn't include PFAS results.
Penns Grove, in Salem County, has about 4,934 residents. Virtually all of them live inside the service area of New Jersey American Water's Penns Grove system, according to New Jersey DEP's service area map.
Correction, October 24, 2026. From October 22 to October 24, 2026, the pages for New Jersey American Water's Penns Grove system and the towns it serves (Penns Grove and Carneys Point) showed PFOA at 1.25 ppt and PFOS at 1.05 ppt. Those values are printed in the Penns Grove system's 2025 report, but in the section for the Logan system, which supplies water to it through an interconnection. We removed them. The report gives no PFAS compliance result for the Penns Grove system itself. All corrections.
PFAS in the 2025 report NJ American Water, Penns Grove system
The 2025 report doesn't include PFAS results.
Charts and full results for the NJ American Water, Penns Grove system
Is Penns Grove tap water safe?
We don't say whether Penns Grove's tap water is safe to drink: that's a health question, for your doctor or your utility. What we show is what the utility reported next to New Jersey's and EPA's legal limits, starting with PFAS here; hardness and lead follow below.
The Penns Grove system's 2025 water quality report doesn't include PFAS results, so we can't say how Penns Grove's water compares with New Jersey's or EPA's PFAS limits. Compare it with other New Jersey systems' PFAS results.
Hardness and lead in Penns Grove's water
- Hardness
- 115 mg/L6.7 grains per gallon, moderately hardThe utility's report lists an average of 115 mg/L at the treatment plant (2023).New Jersey's recommended upper limit 250 mg/L (for taste and appearance; not enforceable); no federal limit.
- Lead, 90th percentile of home taps
- 1 ppbAction level: 15 ppb, dropping to 10 ppb in November 2027
6.7 grains per gallon in Penns Grove's report: size a water softener for Penns Grove. The statewide hardness table lists the other water systems on this site.
Filtering Penns Grove's tap water at home
The utility's report doesn't include PFAS results, so we can't match a PFAS filter to this water. If you're concerned about lead from your home's pipes, look for a filter certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 53 for lead.
Where does Penns Grove's water come from?
The Penns Grove system's 2025 report lists its own sources as 6 wells drawing from the Potomac-Raritan-Magothy (PRM) Aquifer.
New Jersey American Water runs the Penns Grove system. For billing, starting or stopping service, or account questions, go to New Jersey American Water's customer service page.
Local factors in Penns Grove
Penns Grove's municipal boundary on an aerial photo taken July 11, 2023. The town boundary and the water system's service area aren't always the same.
Source: USDA National Agriculture Imagery Program, via USGS The National Map; boundary from NJ Office of GIS.
Age of homes
90% (margin of error ±11 percentage points) of homes in Penns Grove were built before 1980 (Salem County: 75%, 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 1,564 service lines (the pipes from the water main to each building) in Penns Grove on October 31, 2026. 58 of them (4%) have lead on the utility's side, the property owner's side or both (1 only on the utility's side, 55 only on the owner's side, 2 on both), and New Jersey's 2021 lead service line law requires the utility to replace them, including the part on private property. For 404, 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 Penns Grove 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, 3% of the 65 homes tested in Penns Grove 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 15 sites in Penns Grove 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), 45% (margin of error ±3 percentage points) of occupied homes in Penns Grove 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 ±12 percentage points) report $1,000 or more for the year (35% in Salem 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 code covering Penns Grove: 08069 (shared with Carneys Point). Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas.
Sources. 2025 water quality report, New Jersey American Water, Penns Grove system (public water system NJ1707001), checked against the original in September, October and November 2026; EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System. How we check the data · report an error.
Other towns on the same water system
These towns get their water from the New Jersey American Water, Penns Grove system, so their results match Penns Grove's: