Most of the county drinks Veolia water, a blend of the Oradell and Wanaque reservoirs, the Saddle River and Brunswick aquifer wells serving about 807,000 people. Wyckoff, Ridgewood, Glen Rock and Midland Park are on Ridgewood Water, an all-groundwater utility serving about 61,000. In the northwest corner, towns like Franklin Lakes, Saddle River and Mahwah include thousands of homes on private wells.
Each source has its own issues. Reservoir water brings chlorine taste and seasonal changes. Groundwater brings hardness and, in Ridgewood Water’s case, PFAS levels that in mid-2026 still exceeded New Jersey’s 14 ppt PFOA limit at 18 monitoring points while a dozen treatment plants are built out. Private wells bring iron, manganese, low pH and no utility watching them at all. County-wide, Veolia alone reports nearly 14,000 known lead service lines.