Bergen County town suing chemical company over contamination of drinking water

The city of Garfield will take the Dow Chemical Company and several other corporations to court, claiming that they caused contamination of the city's drinking water.

The lawsuit alleges that the Dow, Vibrantz Corporation, formerly Ferro, and Vulcan Materials, along with other unnamed companies "designed, advertised, manufactured, marketed, distributed, stored and/or sold 1,4-dioxane with the knowledge that this toxic compound would be released into the environment even when used as directed and intended," and that they failed to warn users of the dangers that are associated with the chemical.

It also alleges that, as a result of the use of these products for their intended purpose, 1,4-dioxane has been detected in the city's water supply and that the corporations "knew or reasonably should have known that their 1,4-dioxane compound would reach groundwater, pollute drinking water supplies, render drinking water unusable and unsafe, and threaten public health and welfare."

According to a spokesperson from Dow, the company is aware that a lawsuit has been filed.

"Garfield's basis for filing this lawsuit is unclear," said the spokesperson. "In Garfield's representations to the public, it has stated 'water meets all quality criteria established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and needs no further treatment.' Further, Garfield has not disclosed to the public whether 1,4-dioxane has been detected in its water supply and, notably, there is no reference to 1,4-dioxane in Garfield's five most recent annual water quality reports."

According to Garfield City Manager Erin Delaney, 1,4-dioxane was detected during prior Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR3) testing .

Every five years, as a result of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA issues a list of unregulated contaminants that must be monitored by public water systems. UCMR3 took place between 2013 and 2015 and was the third round of this testing.

On May 18, 2016, the state sent the city a letter with some guidelines to be followed including quarterly testing of the wells and points of entry. Five quarters of the testing was completed, and the results were sent to the state for review with no further correspondence received by the city.

In the 2018 Consumer Confidence Report , the results of the additional testing were reported to the city's customers and, as no other correspondence was received from the state, no additional testing was completed, according to Delaney.

Per Delaney, Garfield is currently in compliance with all state testing and notification requirements for chemicals that the state requires it to test for, including 1,4-dioxane.

Garfield is suing the companies for compensation to cover the cost of removing the forever chemical from its water system, which provides drinking water to local residents and businesses.

"Through its lawsuit, Garfield claims that the defendants knew that the use and disposal of their 1,4-dioxane products would pollute drinking water supplies," said Delaney in a statement. "The costs to install the proper filtration to remove 1,4-dioxane from drinking water supplies is significant and it is not fair for these costs to be passed on to taxpayers through rate increases."

She continued, "The defendants caused the contamination and are the proper parties to pay for the filtration that is needed to remove the chemical from Garfield's drinking water supplies."

New Jersey sues over 1,4-dioxane in drinking water

This is not the first instance of 1,4-dioxane in New Jersey's drinking water.

In March 2023 , the state of New Jersey also sued Dow, Ferro and Vulcan as well as other unnamed companies for the widespread contamination of 1,4-dioxane in drinking water all across the state.

This lawsuit alleged that these corporations "knowingly and willingly manufactured, promoted, and/or sold products containing 1,4-dioxane" in the state even though they knew that the chemical was harmful and "would inevitably reach surface water and groundwater in substantial quantities."

In 2018, the EPA unveiled a $19.5 million plan to expand pump-and-treat systems in Fair Lawn to remove multiple potentially dangerous chemicals including 1,4-dioxane.

1,4-Dioxane in drinking water

According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, 1,4-dioxane is a synthetic chemical used as a solvent, in the manufacturing, or as an unintended byproduct of certain products ranging from plastics to pharmaceuticals to cosmetics.

People can be exposed to 1,4-dioxane through drinking water contaminated with the chemical or by using contaminated water to prepare foods and beverages.

As stated in the lawsuit, data from UCMR3, which was collected between 2013 and 2015, shows that 1,4-dioxane occurs more frequently in New Jersey's public water systems than it does nationally with the compound being detected in 341 of 933 drinking water samples from 174 public water systems around the state.

There are currently no federal or New Jersey drinking water standards for 1,4-dioxane, per the NJDEP. However, the New Jersey Drinking Water Quality Institute recommends a health-based drinking water Maximum Contaminant Level of 0.33 μg/L.

Information regarding the health effects of 1,4-dioxane comes primarily from studies on animals as studies of human exposure are limited. However, according to the NJDEP, based on the available information 1,4-dioxane is classified as "likely to be carcinogenic to humans."

For additional information check out the NJDEP's FAQs regarding 1,4-dioxane in drinking water, which can be found at dep.nj.gov/14-dioxane/#about-dioxane .

Per the NJDEP, if you are concerned about possible 1,4-dioxane levels in your water you can contact the NJDEP's Bureau of Water System Engineering at watersupply@dep.nj.gov.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen County town suing chemical company over contamination of drinking water