Requires owners or operators of public community water systems to perform certain tests for Legionella bacteria.

A1042

ASSEMBLY, No. 1042

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman WAYNE P. DEANGELO

District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)

Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

Assemblyman ANTHONY S. VERRELLI

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires owners or operators of public community
water systems to perform certain tests for Legionella bacteria.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning the presence of
Legionella
bacteria
in drinking water systems and supplementing Title 58 of the Revised Statutes.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.� a.� As used in this
section:

���� "Commissioner" means
the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.

���� "Department" means
the Department of Environmental Protection.

���� "Public community water
system" means the same as the term is defined in section 2 of P.L.2021,
c.183 (C.58:12A-41).

���� "Service line" means
the same as the term is defined in section 2 of P.L.2021, c.183 (C.58:12A-41).

���� "System side" means
the same as the term is defined in section 2 of P.L.2021, c.183 (C.58:12A-41).

���� "Water system
facility" means any large structure, container, or facility used for the
intake, treatment, or distribution of drinking water, as determined by the
department pursuant to subsection i. of this section, including, but not
limited to, storage tanks, treatment plants, pumps, and water mains.

���� b.� Commencing two years after
the effective date of this section, the owner or operator of a public community
water system shall test, at least once every three months, water from the
system side of selected service lines for the presence of
Legionella

bacteria.� The owner or operator shall divide the service area of the public
community water system into quadrants of equal size, and shall test a random
sample of not less than 0.1 percent of the service lines in each quadrant.� To
the maximum extent practicable, the same service line shall not be tested more
than once in the same calendar year for the purposes of complying with the
provisions of this subsection.

���� c.� Commencing two years after
the effective date of this section, the owner or operator of a public community
water system shall have water from water system facilities tested each month
for the presence of
Legionella
bacteria.� The tests shall be performed
on a random sample of not less than one percent of the water system facilities
operated by the public community water system.� The same water system facility
shall not be tested more than once in the same calendar year, for the purposes
of complying with the provisions of this subsection.

���� d.� To the maximum extent
practicable, a public community water system shall consolidate the testing
required pursuant to this section with other testing required pursuant to State
or federal law.

���� e.� Water sampling and testing
carried out pursuant to this section shall be performed using the best
practices developed by the department pursuant to subsection i. of this
section, and the water testing shall be performed by a laboratory accredited
for this purpose by the department.

���� f.� The results of each water
test performed pursuant to this section shall be transmitted to the department,
in a form and manner determined by the department.

���� g.� If a test result is found
to exceed the applicable standard for
Legionella
bacteria developed by
the department pursuant to subsection i. of this section, the owner or operator
of a public community water system shall:

���� (1)� immediately notify any
customers of the public community water system that may be affected by the
Legionella

contamination; and

���� (2)� no later than 30 days
after the test result is received by the owner or operator, undertake efforts
to remove the excessive levels of
Legionella
bacteria and to protect the
health of the customers of the public community water system.� The
Legionella

contamination shall be remediated no later than six months after the test
result is received by the owner or operator.� After the remediation, the owner
or operator shall have the water from the service line tested, and shall submit
the test result to the department to verify that the remediation has been
successful.

���� h.� A violation of the
provisions of this section shall be considered a violation of the "Safe
Drinking Water Act," P.L.1977, c.224 (C:58:12A-1 et seq.) and the
commissioner shall have recourse to any of the actions provided for in section
10 of P.L.1977, c.224 (C.58:12A-10), in order to remedy the violation.�
However, the presence of excessive
Legionella
bacteria levels shall not,
in itself, constitute a violation of the provisions of this section.�

���� i.� No later than 18 months
after the effective date of this section, the department shall adopt, pursuant
to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et
seq.), rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this act.� The
rules and regulations shall include, but not be limited to:

���� (1)� best practices to be used
by persons obtaining and testing water samples for the presence of
Legionella

bacteria;

���� (2)� maximum acceptable
concentrations of
Legionella
bacteria in drinking water service lines
and water system facilities; and

���� (3)�
an explicit definition of the water system facilities that are to be tested
pursuant to this section.�

���� 2.��� This
act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill would require the
owner or operator of a public community water system to perform certain tests
for
Legionella
bacteria on the drinking water in the public community
water system.

���� Specifically, the bill would
require the owner or operator to test water from the system side of a random
sample of 0.1 percent of the service lines in the service area of the public
community water system, at least once every three months.� In addition, the
bill would require testing of a random sample of one percent of the public
community water system's facilities (including storage tanks, treatment plants,
pumps, and water mains), at least once every month. The bill requires the water
sampling and testing to be performed using a set of best practices developed by
the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).� In addition, the bill would
require the water testing to be performed by a laboratory accredited by the
DEP.

���� The bill would also require
the owner or operator of a public community water system to transmit the test
results to the DEP.� If the test results reveal the presence of excessive
Legionella

contamination, according to a standard to be developed by the DEP under the
bill, the owner or operator would be required to begin remediation of the
problem within 30 days, and the remediation would be required to be completed
within six months.� The owner or operator would also be required to notify
customers that may be affected by the
Legionella
contamination.

���� A violation of the bill's
provisions would be considered a violation of the "Safe Drinking Water
Act," P.L.1977, c.224 (C.58:12A-1 et seq.), which could result in civil
administrative penalties of up to $25,000 per violation.