Water Declared Safe In Gloucester County Following PA Chemical Spill

GLOUCESTER COUNTY, NJ — After repeated testing of river samples potentially impacted by last week's latex spill, New Jersey American Water declared that the water is safe. The utility company lifted the voluntary-conservation notice for its customers in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties.

NJ American Water advised its South Jersey customers Sunday evening to limit non-essential water use until further notice. The company lifted the advisory Tuesday, declaring that water from the Delaware River Regional Water Treatment Plant, which serves the three New Jersey counties, hadn't been impacted.

Concerns over water in the region arose after a "latex emulsion product" was released from an Altuglas manufacturing facility Friday, shortly before midnight, into Otter Creek in Bristol, Pennsylvania, because of an apparent equipment failure, according to its parent company, Trinseo PLC. Trinseo estimated 8,100 gallons of the solution — about 50 percent water and the remainder latex polymer — was spilled.

NJ American Water lifted the conservation notice because it can now replenish its source water supply more frequently as the threat of contamination diminishes, NJ American Water says.

"As more time passes and all river samples continue to show no detection of contaminant, we are more confident in drawing source water as needed to replenish our reserves," said NJ American Water President Mark McDonough. "
We will continue to monitor and test the source water by our intakes to ensure it is appropriate for us to take in."

Federal and state agencies, along with other water purveyors, continue to test the river, McDonough says.