County water report

Passaic County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Passaic County, New Jersey.

Water grade

Water score

52.8

State rank

#16

of 21

Health violations

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

Not reported

EPA ATTAINS coverage varies by state

Monitoring sites

25,554 recent measurements

Live streamflow

18%

Passaic River at Dundee Dam at Clifton NJ

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Passaic County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

Score: 52.8 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

Not reported

Coverage varies by state

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

18% of mean

Passaic River at Dundee Dam at Clifton NJ

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

25,554 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

52.8/100

Health violations

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

12.6

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Data center water stress

Passaic County has 5 facilities in the DCWSI dataset.

ByCounty's DCWSI ranks this county #119 nationally by combining its water score with mapped data center density.

DCWSI

60.7

0-100 index

Facility count

72.6 density percentile

Discharge estimate

Not reported

EPA CWA fields where available

Water vs median

+2.8

Compared with US county median

Named operators

CyrusOneDigital Realty

Mapped facilities

CLIFTON DATA CENTER
CLIFTON
EPA ECHO
Credit Suisse: Clifton Data Center
Facility details limited
OSM
CYRUSONE NYM2
TOTOWA · CyrusOne
EPA ECHO
Digital Realty New Jersey EWR20
Clifton · Digital Realty
OSM
Digital Realty New Jersey EWR21
Clifton · Digital Realty
OSM

See the Passaic County data-center report Review methodology

Data Center Water Budget Calculator

Estimate daily water use for a hypothetical facility in Passaic County.

Facility size: 100 MW

1 MW1,000 MW

Cooling type

Utilization: 70%

40%100%

799K gallons/dayHigh Impact

Your facility would use 20.8% of this county's industrial water baseline. Verify water rights and long-term drought projections before committing.

20.8% of county industrial baseline3.05 Mgal/day remaining headroom

Based on USGS 2020 water-use data and EPA-standard cooling intensity constants. Not a substitute for site-specific water rights analysis.

Editorial analysis

Understanding Passaic County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Passaic County's drinking water earned a C grade, scoring 52.8 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 57 health-based violations — a pattern that public water utilities are required to disclose and correct.

River & Streamflow Status

USGS NWIS

USGS NWIS gauge data (as of 2026-05-14T14:15:00.000-04:00) puts Passaic River at 235.0 cfs — well below its long-term average at 18% of mean — low-flow conditions worth noting for water-dependent ecosystems. Streamflow is a leading indicator of drought stress, sediment load, and dilution capacity: low flows concentrate pollutants and warm water temperatures, stressing aquatic life and, in surface-water-dependent systems, the source water quality for treatment plants.

Monitoring Network

EPA WQP

EPA's Water Quality Portal (WQP) aggregates monitoring data from federal, state, and tribal agencies. Passaic County has extensive coverage with 75 active monitoring sites with 25,554 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include organics, pcbs and physical. More monitoring sites generally indicate greater scientific attention to local water conditions — and provide the baseline data that regulators use to set future impairment listings.

Editorial advisory

What the data suggests for Passaic County

Water Verdict

Passaic County, New Jersey receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of C and a score of 52.8 out of 100. Residents should review their utility's Consumer Confidence Report and may want to consider additional water filtration for drinking. The county's primary USGS gauge drains roughly 805 square miles of upstream watershed, giving local source waters a regional footprint. At the most recent USGS reading, local streamflow was below its historical mean at 17.6% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Passaic County, New Jersey show 57 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 12.6 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues. This compliance record sits alongside an unusually deep monitoring archive: 25,554 water-quality results have been logged across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Tap water in Passaic County meets baseline standards but the compliance record shows room for improvement, with a Grade C rating. Passaic County's drinking-water compliance score is 52.8 out of 100. The violation rate for Passaic County is 12.6 per 100,000 people served. Residents who are immunocompromised, pregnant, or have young children may benefit from using an NSF 53-certified filter. Contacting your local utility for the current Consumer Confidence Report will confirm which specific violations were recorded and whether they have been resolved. With 75 active water-quality monitoring sites in Passaic County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the Passaic River gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Passaic County has water quality close to the average county in New Jersey. Its water score is within 2.9 points of the state average, meaning its overall water system performance is broadly representative of New Jersey as a whole.

Advisory text summarizes county-level public records and is not a replacement for your utility's current Consumer Confidence Report or direct local notices.

Contaminants & Resources

Key issues flagged in Passaic County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Passaic County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Passaic County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Passaic County

Consumer Confidence Reports (NJ)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in New Jersey

Past 5 years

Water Quality Monitoring

Monitoring Sites

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

26K

25,554 total readings

Most Measured

Organics, PCBs
Physical
PFAS,Perfluorinated Alkyl Substance

Categories measured most frequently

Data from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), aggregating monitoring records from federal, state, and tribal sources. Each measurement represents a single sample analyzed for a specific characteristic (e.g., E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen).

Live USGS Streamgage

River & Stream Conditions

Current Discharge

235cfs

May 14, 6:15 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

18%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

Passaic River at Dundee Dam at Clifton NJ

USGS site: 01389890
Drainage area: 805 sq mi
Long-term mean: 1,336 cfs

One representative streamgage (the one with the largest drainage area in the county). Many counties have multiple gauges; this view summarizes the primary one. The long-term mean is the full-record annual average; the percent-of-typical value compares the latest reading against that average.

Free tool

Estimate Your Water Costs

Water Cost Estimate

Household size

3 people · ~225 gal/day

Filter type

Annual Total

$558

Monthly

$47

Water Bill

$558/yr

Filter Cost

$0/yr

Safety Grade for Passaic County:D — Poor

Elevated violations or significant watershed impairment.

Estimates use the national average residential water rate ($0.0068/gal, EPA/AWWA 2023) and EPA WaterSense per-person consumption baseline (75 gal/person/day). Actual bills vary by utility, usage tier, and local infrastructure fees. For informational purposes only.

Try the full calculator →

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the water quality in Passaic County, New Jersey?

Passaic County, New Jersey has a drinking-water quality grade of C with a score of 52.8/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 57 health-based drinking water violations over the past 5 years. Watershed health, monitoring records, and streamflow snapshots are reported separately on this page.

Are there any water violations in Passaic County?

Passaic County has 57 health-based drinking water violations recorded by the EPA over the past 5 years. Health-based violations indicate instances where contaminant levels exceeded EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). Violations may have been resolved — check with your local water utility for current status.

How much water-quality monitoring happens in Passaic County?

EPA's Water Quality Portal records 25,554 measurements from 75 monitoring sites in Passaic County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Organics, PCBs, Physical, PFAS,Perfluorinated Alkyl Substance. Each measurement is a single sample analyzed for one characteristic (E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc.). High monitoring density means more scientific evidence behind any reported signal — it does not by itself indicate water quality.

What's happening with rivers in Passaic County right now?

Passaic County's primary USGS streamgage on the Passaic River has a pipeline snapshot of 235 cubic feet per second — 18% of the long-term mean of 1,336.08 cfs. This is well below typical — often a signal of drought stress on source water. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.

How does Passaic County water compare to the New Jersey average?

Passaic County's SDWIS water quality score of 52.8/100 is lower than the New Jersey state average of 55.7. The average water quality grade across New Jersey is D, based on data from 21 counties with available SDWIS data.

Is tap water safe to drink in Passaic County?

Based on EPA SDWIS data, Passaic County has a water quality grade of C (52.8/100). This indicates moderate compliance. Some violations have been recorded but overall standards are maintained. The grade speaks to the public water system, not the watershed — for watershed-level concerns, see the Watershed Health zone. For the most up-to-date information, contact your local water utility or review your Consumer Confidence Report (CCR).

Why does Passaic County have so many water violations?

Passaic County has 57 health-based drinking water violations on record from the EPA SDWIS database. A higher violation count can result from aging infrastructure, underfunded water utilities, agricultural runoff contamination, or industrial pollution. Counties with more water systems may also see more violations simply due to scale. Residents concerned about water quality should consider independent water testing and home filtration systems.

How does Passaic County rank for water quality in New Jersey?

Passaic County ranks #16 out of 21 counties in New Jersey by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 52.8/100, it falls in the bottom third of counties statewide. The ranking reflects EPA SDWIS compliance only — not watershed impairment, monitoring density, or streamflow, which are tracked separately on this page.

Counties with Similar Water Quality

Essex County

New Jersey

55.8

Water score

Camden County

New Jersey

57.5

Water score

Monmouth County

New Jersey

57.5

Water score

Data Sources

Drinking-water compliance data from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) via the ECHO enforcement database. Scores reflect compliance history and health-based violation counts.

Water-quality monitoring counts from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), federated USGS, EPA, and state agency sampling records over a rolling 5-year window.

Live streamflow from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), continuous discharge measurements from the largest-drainage gauge in each county, compared against the full-record long-term annual mean.

Disclaimer: This data is informational only. It is not health, legal, or professional advice. For concerns about your specific water supply, contact your local water utility.

By Evan Brooks, Data EditorUpdated May 14, 2026Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

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