The vast majority of water South Orange receives is from surface water and well water near AW’s Canoe Brook Water Treatment Plant in Millburn, NJ. Wells near the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) feed directly into the clearwell at the plant and are blended with the treated surface water at the WTP before entering the distribution system. The particular blend will differ from season to season depending on the demands of the system and may also include surface water from Passaic Valley Water Commission WTP and surface water from NJAW Raritan Millstone WTP.The Canoe Brook WTP itself was commissioned in 2012 and has a total net capacity of 22 million gallons a day. Surface water and ground water are treated using a high rated Dissolved Air Flotation clarification process with Ozone pre-oxidation while taste and odor control are managed with pre-ozone and granular activated carbon filters with powder activated carbon as a back-up.
In addition, South Orange will improve our local water supply by investing in a complete rehabilitation of Well #17 as well as installation of a GAC (granular activated carbon) filtration system to treat Well #17 and remove the majority of contaminants including PFOA’s and VOC’s.