New Jersey American Water Launching Education Campaign to Encourage Customers to Identify & Report Their Service Line Material

Customer education effort will support company’s Lead Service Line Replacement Program, replacing all lead and galvanized water service lines by 2031.

New Jersey American Water is launching an education campaign across the company’s service areas to encourage customers to self-identify and report the material of the service line that brings water into their home. The educational effort is part of the company's Lead Service Line Replacement Program aimed at replacing all lead and galvanized water service lines by 2031 as mandated by state law.

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"Replacing all lead and galvanized water service lines by 2031 is a top priority. The first step in accomplishing this goal, in the most efficient and cost-effective way, is to know where they are so we can remove them in a coordinated method, street-by-street and town-by-town,” said Mark McDonough, President, New Jersey American Water. “By educating and empowering our customers to participate in this easy way, we can help accelerate the program more expeditiously than the law’s 2031 deadline.”

New Jersey American Water is asking their customers to help support the effort by locating and identifying their water service line and submitting a survey with their findings. This can be done in three easy steps and using simple household items such as a magnet and a coin to identify the material of the water service line. The instructions on how to identify your line – including a video tutorial – and a special portal to submit your findings can be found here.

Starting this week, customers with unknown service line material listed in New Jersey American Water’s published inventory will begin to see information about the campaign through emails from the company, on social media, and in targeted digital, cable and outdoor advertising.

As part of the program, New Jersey American Water continues to replace lead and galvanized service lines where other infrastructure projects are occurring, as well as based on the prioritization plan for the company’s 30 public water systems that scores communities’ census tracts by health risk factors. The combination of the education campaign and prioritization plan, as well as partnering closely with municipal officials will allow the company to continue to improve the initiative to mitigate costs over the span of the program.

“We look forward to partnering with our customers, municipalities and other key stakeholders within the communities we serve over the coming months and years to work together towards this goal of replacing all lead service lines statewide once and for all,” stated McDonough.

In July 2021, New Jersey enacted legislation requiring all water providers to replace both utility-owned and customer-owned lead and galvanized service lines by 2031. But customer-owned water service lines have historically not been tracked by water utilities, so completing an inventory of customer-owned service lines is a necessary step to replacing all lead or galvanized water service lines.

It is important to note that if your service lines contain lead, it does not mean you cannot use water as you normally do. New Jersey American Water regularly tests for lead in drinking water and the water delivered to customers meets state and federal water quality regulations, including those set for lead.

Launched shortly after Infrastructure Week - which raises awareness about the importance of infrastructure investment and modernization - the customer education effort and the Lead Service Line Replacement Program also represents New Jersey American Water’s commitment to investing in its infrastructure. For more information on this program, and lead and drinking water, please visit www.newjerseyamwater.com/leadfacts.

About New Jersey American Water

New Jersey American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), is the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater services to approximately 2.8 million people. For more information, visit www.newjerseyamwater.com and follow New Jersey American Water on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

About American Water

With a history dating back to 1886, American Water is the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The company employs more than 6,500 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and regulated-like drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people in 24 states. American Water provides safe, clean, affordable and reliable water services to our customers to help keep their lives flowing. For more information, visit amwater.com and diversityataw.com. Follow American Water on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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