Camden, New Jersey is a city that has endured more than most. Once a thriving manufacturing hub — home to Campbell Soup, RCA Victor, and New York Shipbuilding — it experienced decades of deindustrialization, population loss, and economic decline that left deep scars on its infrastructure and environment.
Today, roughly 73,000 residents rely on a water system that carries the weight of that industrial history. Understanding what’s in Camden’s water requires understanding the city’s past.
Who Supplies Camden’s Water
Camden’s water supply comes from two sources, managed by New Jersey American Water:
- The Delaware River — Surface water drawn from the river and treated at conventional treatment plants
- Groundwater wells — Several well fields tap into local aquifers
New Jersey American Water, a subsidiary of American Water Works (the nation’s largest publicly traded water utility), has invested in treatment infrastructure. But the challenges in Camden are significant, and they go beyond what any single utility can solve.
Industrial Contamination: What’s in the Ground
Camden’s industrial history left contamination across the city. Multiple Superfund and state-level contaminated sites dot the landscape:
- The Winslow Township/Camden area hosts legacy contamination from chemical manufacturing, metalworking, and waste disposal operations
- Petroleumproducts, solvents, and heavy metals have been found in soil and groundwater across multiple sites
- The former industrial waterfront contributed decades of pollution to the Delaware River and adjacent groundwater
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has identified numerous contaminated sites in Camden County. Remediation efforts continue, but groundwater contamination plumes don’t respect property boundaries, and they can take decades to clean up.
Lead: Camden’s Persistent Problem
Like Newark — its neighbor to the north that made national headlines for lead contamination — Camden has a significant lead-in-water risk. The city’s housing stock is old. Very old. Most homes were built before 1978, and many before 1950, when lead pipes and lead solder were standard.
Lead service lines — the pipes connecting water mains to homes — are the primary pathway for lead to enter drinking water. When corrosion control chemistry in the water shifts, or when pipes are physically disturbed (by construction, vibration, or water pressure changes), lead can leach into the water flowing through them.
New Jersey has been among the most aggressive states in addressing lead service lines. The state’s 2021 lead service line replacement law requires all water systems to inventory and replace lead lines within 10 years. But Camden faces unique challenges: a shrinking tax base, high poverty rates, and a housing stock where many properties have complex ownership and access issues.
According to EPA compliance data, the system has maintained compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule. But rule compliance measures the 90th percentile of tested homes — meaning up to 10% can exceed the action level and the system still “passes.” In a city with Camden’s demographics and housing stock, that gap matters.
Combined Sewer Overflows
Camden has a combined sewer system — meaning stormwater and sewage flow through the same pipes. During heavy rain events, the system’s capacity is overwhelmed, and a mixture of stormwater and raw sewage discharges directly into the Delaware River and local waterways.
These combined sewer overflows (CSOs) don’t directly contaminate the drinking water supply (the intake is upstream and treated), but they reflect the overall infrastructure stress. CSOs contaminate recreational waterways, affect environmental quality, and indicate a system operating at or beyond capacity.
Camden County has a long-term control plan for CSOs, but the infrastructure investments required are enormous — billions of dollars for a community that can barely afford basic services.
Environmental Justice
Camden is widely recognized as an environmental justice community. The city’s residents — predominantly Black and Hispanic, with poverty rates several times the national average — bear a disproportionate burden of environmental contamination.
Multiple industrial facilities, waste processing operations, and contaminated sites are concentrated in and around Camden. The cumulative environmental burden — air pollution, soil contamination, water quality concerns, and noise — affects health outcomes.
New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Law, enacted in 2020, requires new or expanded facilities in overburdened communities to demonstrate they won’t create disproportionate impacts. It’s among the strongest such laws in the country. But it addresses future facilities — the legacy contamination remains.
For water quality specifically, environmental justice means:
- Residents may lack resources for home water testing or filtration
- Older housing with lead pipes is concentrated in low-income areas
- Renters have less ability to demand lead service line replacement or install filtration
- Language barriers can limit access to water quality information
What EPA Data Shows
EPA ECHO data for New Jersey American Water’s Camden system shows:
- Lead and copper — System-wide compliance maintained, but individual home results vary significantly based on plumbing age and materials
- Disinfection byproducts — THMs and HAAs managed within limits, though Delaware River source water requires significant treatment
- Turbidity — Managed through conventional treatment processes
- PFAS — New Jersey has among the strictest PFAS standards in the nation, with MCLs for PFOS, PFOA, and PFNA set below the 2024 federal standards. The utility monitors and reports PFAS levels
What Residents Can Do
If you live in Camden and want to protect yourself and your family:
- Get your water tested for lead. New Jersey American Water offers free lead testing kits. Use them. If your home was built before 1986, testing isn’t optional — it’s essential.
- Run your tap before drinking. Flush cold water for at least 30 seconds (longer if pipes haven’t been used in hours) to clear water that may have sat in contact with lead pipes.
- Use a certified filter. NSF/ANSI 53-certified filters effectively reduce lead. Pitcher filters are an affordable option. New Jersey has distributed free filters in some communities.
- Don’t use hot tap water for cooking or baby formula. Hot water dissolves more lead from pipes than cold water.
- Read the CCR. The annual Consumer Confidence Report from NJ American Water details all test results.
If you’re concerned about your water quality, a certified water treatment professional can test your water and advise on solutions. For residents who can’t afford testing or treatment, contact the NJDEP or local community organizations — assistance programs exist.
The Path Forward
Camden’s water quality challenges are inseparable from its broader struggles with poverty, deindustrialization, and environmental injustice. Technical solutions exist — lead service line replacement, advanced treatment for PFAS and other contaminants, infrastructure renewal. The barrier is money and political will.
Federal infrastructure funding, New Jersey’s aggressive regulatory stance on lead and PFAS, and growing environmental justice advocacy all push in the right direction. But for residents drinking the water today, those long-term trends don’t help at 6 AM when they’re filling a glass from the kitchen tap.
Testing your water, using appropriate filtration, and staying informed remain the most important things any Camden resident can do right now.