Watchung, Green Brook Water Will Be Treated With Chloramine

Watchung/Green Brook, NJ -- If you have noticed a chlorine taste and smell coming from your water lately, it will soon be gone.

New Jersey American Water is switching from free chlorine to chloramines (a mixture of chlorine and ammonia) to disinfect its water coming from the Canal Road and Raritan Millstone Water Treatment Plants.

Watchung and Green Brook are some of the many municipalities to receive service from those water treatment plants. A total of six counties -- Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union counties -- all use these plants.

"Chloramines have been used in the system for more than 25 years and are an effective method of water disinfection meeting all USEPA and NJDEP drinking water standards," NJ American Water stated in a release.

The water company had switched over to free chlorine in mid-February for two months to allow maintenance to be performed on its chemical feed systems and remove any residual ammonia that may have been present in the water distribution system, according to the release.

During the transition to chlorine some customers may have noticed a slight chlorine taste and odor in their water.

NJ American Water began resuming the use of chloramination on Monday, which should remove the taste and smell of chlorine.

The following municipalities receive service from the Raritan-Millstone and Canal Road Water Treatment Plants:

• Bedminster,
• Belle Meade,
• Bound Brook,
• Branchburg,
• Bridgewater,
• Chester,
• Clark,
• Cranbury,
• Cranford,
• Dunellen,
• Elizabeth,
• Edison,
• Fanwood,
• Flemington,
• Franklin,
• Garwood,
• Green Brook,
• Hillside,
• Hillsborough,
• Hopewell Township,
• Jamesburg,
• Kenilworth,
• Kingston,
• Lawrence,
• Linden,
• Manville,
• Martinsville,
• Middlesex,
• Millstone,
• Monroe Township,
• Montgomery,
• Mountainside,
• North Plainfield,
• Peapak/Gladstone,
• Piscataway,
• Plainfield,
• Plainsboro,
• Pottersville,
• Princeton,
• Raritan,
• Roselle,
• Roselle Park,
• Readington,
• Scotch Plains,
• Somerville,
• South Bound Brook,
• South Brunswick,
• South Plainfield,
• Tewksbury,
• Union,
• Warren,
• Watchung,
• Westfield,
• West Windsor,
• and Winfield Park