NJ’s water mains are crumbling — and you’re paying for it on your water bill

Published by NJ Clean Stream  |  Aging Water Infrastructure Series, Article 1 of 3

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The scale of the problem

Industry standards suggest a well-maintained system should replace roughly 1 to 2 percent of its distribution mains per year — enough to cycle through the entire system over 50 to 100 years. Most New Jersey water utilities are replacing mains at rates far below this standard. In some systems, annual replacement rates are less than 0.1 percent — meaning more than 1,000 years at current rates to cycle through existing infrastructure.

The consequences are measurable. New Jersey’s water utilities report thousands of main breaks per year. Break rates in older systems can be orders of magnitude higher than in newer ones. Some utilities in the state’s older cities experience break rates that reflect a distribution system in active deterioration — pipes so old, so corroded, and so stressed by daily pressure cycles that they are failing faster than they can be repaired.

What happens when a water main breaks

A water main break is not merely an inconvenience. It is a public health event. When a pressurized main ruptures, the pressure drop creates two distinct contamination risks.

Intrusion of soil and groundwater. At the point of the break, the pressure drop allows soil, groundwater, and any contaminants they contain to be pulled into the pipe. In urban environments where soil adjacent to water mains may contain lead, petroleum hydrocarbons, or industrial contaminants, this intrusion represents a real contamination pathway.

Pressure transients throughout the system. When crews isolate and then restore the affected section, pressure transients propagate through the distribution system. Where the transient creates momentary negative pressure, it can draw contaminants through cracks, joint gaps, and corrosion pits throughout the aging system.

What our pipes are made of and why it matters

Cast iron pipe dominates older sections of New Jersey’s distribution systems, installed throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Unlined cast iron develops tuberculation — buildup of iron oxide deposits — that reduces flow capacity and releases accumulated contaminants during pressure changes. The rusty, discolored water that follows a nearby main break is tuberculation deposits dislodged by the pressure event.

Asbestos cement pipe was widely used from the 1930s through the 1970s. As the cement matrix ages and weakens, the pipe becomes vulnerable to breakage. When AC pipe breaks, it releases asbestos fibers into the surrounding soil and groundwater.

Lead service lines — the connections between the distribution main in the street and individual buildings — are technically separate from distribution mains but compound the aging infrastructure risk significantly. New Jersey has an estimated 350,000 lead service lines. The pressure transients associated with main breaks can dislodge lead particles from service lines, causing lead spikes at customers’ taps days or weeks after a repair.

Why pipes don’t get replaced: the financial structure

Setting rates at the true long-run cost of water service — enough to fund not just today’s operations but the eventual replacement of every pipe in the system — is economically correct but politically difficult. Rate increases are unpopular. Local governing bodies are reluctant to raise rates above immediate operating costs. The result is a pattern of underinvestment that has persisted for decades. Each year that rates are set below the level needed for full cost recovery, the deferred replacement backlog grows. Each year of growth increases the ultimate cost of catching up.

Who bears the cost: the equity dimension

The geographic distribution of aging water infrastructure in New Jersey is not random. It maps closely onto the state’s urban geography — the cities built earliest, grown most densely, and most disinvested are the cities with the oldest distribution systems and the least financial capacity to fund replacement. Newark’s distribution system contains pipes from the late nineteenth century. Camden’s has significant portions from the early twentieth century. The residents who depend on aging infrastructure are predominantly lower-income, predominantly people of color — and frequently the same residents bearing elevated exposure to other environmental contamination.

The rate structure compounds the inequity. When a utility raises rates to fund infrastructure replacement, the increase falls proportionally on all customers — but its burden is greatest for lower-income customers who spend a larger share of income on water service.