Warning: Water company issues ‘cloudy’ water alert

Montclair's water provider, North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, recently failed to filter its water supply correctly, according to release issued by the commission on May 22.

"We routinely monitor your water for turbidity (cloudiness). This tells us whether we are effectively filtering the water supply. Our water system did not comply with the filtration requirements, specifically, our turbidity exceeded 1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) in representative samples of the Combined Filter Effluent (CFE) water," according to NJDWSC officials.

Residents do not need to boil their water or take other actions.

On May 4, 2019 the turbidity in the reservoir which feeds the treatment plant rose rapidly. It is theorized that high suspended solids, an algae bloom and a rain event caused the excess turbidity.

Commission officials do not know of any contamination, and none of the testing has shown disease-causing organisms in the drinking water.

"Turbidity may indicate the presence of disease-causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses and parasite that can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea and associated headaches," according to the release.

Residents with severely compromised immune systems, or with infants, are pregnant or are elderly, could be at an increased risk if they consume the water and should seek advice from their health care providers.

General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA's Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800- 426-4791. What does this mean? This is not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified within 24 hours. *Turbidity has no health effects. However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth.