Passaic Valley Water Commission outlines $809 million capital plan, updates lead service line and reservoir projects

Passaic Valley Water Commission staff presented a year‑end system review to the Passaic City Council on Feb. 4, describing a five‑year, $809,000,000 capital plan, progress on replacing lead service lines, hydrant replacements and upcoming projects to cover open‑air reservoirs.

The commission representative told the council the system serves several municipalities including Passaic, Paterson and Clifton and includes about "650 miles of water mains," with approximately 110 miles 16 inches or larger and a retail capacity around "77,000,000 gallons per day." The commission has about 200–250 employees and 22 wholesale customers, the representative said.

The commission said it secured nearly $50 million of principal loan forgiveness from the state water bank for key projects and credited state advocacy for some of the funding. On reservoir work, the commission described a planned $42 million project to cover open‑air drinking water reservoirs, and said New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) increased principal forgiveness for that project from $2 million to $10 million.

"We just got the appellate court to approve our bid award to the second lowest bidder. We are moving forward $42,000,000 project," the commission representative said.

On lead service lines, the commission said replacement is being done at no cost to customers under state and federal mandates. The representative said the program originally targeted roughly 6,500 service lines systemwide and that "over 4,500 have been replaced already," describing the program as "close to 80% complete." For Passaic specifically, the commission said about 825 lines have been replaced and roughly 175 remain; of those 175, the commission reported 65 have rights of entry and about 100 customers have been nonresponsive.

The commission warned the program is entering a "tail end" phase with harder‑to‑reach properties and flagged options such as working with city staff on outreach, considering decommissioning vacant properties, or asking property owners to pay privately at sale. "It's free to the customers," the representative said of lead line replacement. The commission also noted local 2022 ordinances authorized the program and allowed fines as a last resort where property owners refuse access.

Other projects the commission flagged included a recently completed $11.5 million contract to replace more than 1,100 hydrants across its retail area (45 hydrants in Passaic), and planned local projects to address pressure and broken valves in Passaic, expected to be bid or assigned in the next four to five months with estimated local costs "on the order of $1 to $2 million." The commission also described unauthorized hydrant usage as an ongoing problem and showed drone footage used to document misuse.

The commission highlighted customer outreach improvements including a new website with translation into Spanish, Polish, Arabic and Bengali and promised printed Spanish copies of the year‑in‑review for city hall. Council members asked follow‑up questions about pressure vulnerabilities, who remains nonresponsive for lead replacements and whether the commission could provide the list of nonresponsive addresses; the commission agreed to provide addresses to the city for targeted outreach.

Council members commended the work. "The time that it took for the repairs were — they were on point," Councilman Lewis said. The commission representative thanked city staff and said it will continue coordinating with Passaic on scheduling and outreach.

Votes at a glance: the presentation was followed by questions and discussion but no formal council action was recorded on the commission's recommendations during the Feb. 4 meeting. The council did request the commission provide a list of nonresponsive addresses for outreach.

The commission invited residents to contact its customer service department for scheduling lead‑line replacement or to report missed contractors. Contact details and the year‑in‑review report were posted on the commission's website.

Passaic council members and the mayor said they would continue to work with the commission on outreach and capital priorities.