Office of Legislative Services
State House Annex
P.O. Box 068
Trenton, New Jersey 08625
Legislative Budget and Finance Office
Phone (609) 847-3105
Fax (609) 777-2442
www.njleg.state.nj.us
LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE
SENATE, No. 984
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
DATED: OCTOBER 31, 2024
SUMMARY
Synopsis: Requires water supplier to notify affected municipalities, school
districts, charter schools, and nonpublic schools of violations of
drinking water quality standards.
Type of Impact: Annual State and local expenditure increases.
Agencies Affected: State-owned public water systems; certain local government units.
Office of Legislative Services Estimate
Annual Fiscal Impact
State Expenditure Increase Indeterminate
Local Expenditure Increase Indeterminate
The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) finds that this bill will result in an indeterminate
amount of annual administrative costs for the State and certain local governments. The costs
under the bill will depend on the quantity of drinking water standard violations, which can vary
year to year and which the OLS cannot anticipate.
The OLS notes that public water systems are already required to provide similar notifications
under federal and State law and, as a result, many of the administrative costs associated with
this bill may be mitigated.
BILL DESCRIPTION
This bill would require owners of public water systems to notify municipal governing bodies
and local school districts, charter schools, and nonpublic schools whenever public water systems
violate drinking water quality standards supplied by the public water system within the
municipality. These notifications would identify the name of the contaminant that exceeds
drinking water quality standards, the maximum contaminant level or action level for the
contaminant, the level of the contaminant found on each date, the dates when the tests were
performed, the location of each sample tested, and the location of each sample tested that exceeds
a maximum contaminant level or action level. Reporting would take place by telephone and FE to S984
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electronic mail. Public water systems would also be required to provide information on
preventative strategies that a customer may take to address the violation.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
None received.
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES
The OLS finds that this bill would result in an indeterminate amount of annual administrative
costs for the State and certain local governments to provide the required notifications whenever
public water systems violate drinking water quality standards. The OLS estimates that these
administrative efforts may be subsumed within existing staff duties.
For background, there are approximately 3,700 water systems in the State, which consist of:
(1) 582 public water systems such as those that serve municipalities, operated by 475 water
purveyors; (2) 720 non-transient non-community systems that serve businesses, hotels, and
schools; and (3) 2,372 transient non-community systems that serve businesses, camps, churches,
hotels, and restaurants. Of the 582 public water systems in the State, 307 are owned by local
government water purveyors, seven are owned by State water purveyors, and 268 are owned by
private entities. In 2016, New Jersey public water systems reported nearly 300 violations across
all regulated contaminants.
The OLS notes that public water systems are already required to provide similar notifications
under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and the State Safe Drinking Water Act. As a result,
many of the administrative costs associated with this bill may be mitigated. Costs may also vary
from year to year depending on the number of drinking water standard violations reported.
Section: Environment, Agriculture, Energy, and Natural Resources
Analyst: Anna Heckler
Assistant Fiscal Analyst
Approved: Thomas Koenig
Legislative Budget and Finance Officer
This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the
failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.
This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).