Replace the pipes, and replace them faster.

That’s the message that a growing number of North Jersey towns has for SUEZ, the private water utility that serves most of Bergen County and Hudson County.

Earlier this month, SUEZ announced that the drinking water in 57 towns across the two counties was possibly at risk of elevated lead levels. The news came after 16 of the 108 water samples tested by the utility in the second half of 2018 showed lead levels higher than the federal drinking water standard.

When the news broke, SUEZ promptly placed the blame on thousands of lead service lines --- the pipes that carry water from a water main to individual properties.

According to SUEZ spokeswoman Debra Vial, the utility owns 8,508 lead service lines in the system. Another 7,582 utility-owned lines in the system are made of unknown materials.

Tracy Schoenberg, the Oradell council president, said that in a meeting following the public announcement, SUEZ told local elected officials that it planned to replace 7 percent of utility-owned lead service lines per year, for the next 14 years. SUEZ will give filters to customers that are served by the lead lines while they wait for the pipe to be replaced, Schoenberg said they were told.

But that’s not good enough in the eyes of some local officials.

“We were not exactly thrilled with their response or their planned response,” Schoenberg said.

The councils of at least five Bergen County towns -- Oradell, Teaneck, Ridgefield, New Milford and Palisades Park -- passed resolutions this week urging SUEZ and the NJDEP to replace more than just 7 percent of the lead service lines every year.

Two more towns, Dumont and Tenafly, are scheduled to consider the resolution in upcoming meetings. Schoenberg said the resolution has been distributed through the Bergen County Mayor’s Association, and she expects more towns to adopt the measure.

Mohammed Hameeduddin, the mayor of Teaneck, said he hopes the resolution stirs SUEZ to move faster.

“Hey look, we understand there’s a problem, we understand that you’re working on it, but understand that we need answers and we need a sense of urgency,” Hameeduddin said.

The thousands of old lead service lines become problematic if the water flowing through them is not properly treated. Normally, drinking water is treated to be minimally corrosive. That keeps the water from eating away at old pipes, and lowers the possibility of lead from the pipes leaching into the water.

But problems at SUEZ’s Haworth water treatment plant mean that the water in the system is wearing down old pipes, sending lead into the water just before it reaches the tap.

It’s the same kind of problem that has spurred lead issues in the water systems in Newark and Trenton. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has agreements with those two cities that call for those water utilities to replace 7 percent of the lead pipes they own every year.

For its part, SUEZ has 30 days from Jan. 7 to evaluate the corrosion control system at the Haworth plant, and a recommendation for achieving optimal corrosion control at the plant needs to be submitted to the NJDEP by June 30.

SUEZ must also provide a total count of lead services lines in the affected system, and a replacement schedule for those service lines, within 60 days of the state notice being sent out on Jan. 7. And SUEZ is required to send educational materials about the possible effects of lead in drinking water to affected customers by March 1.

“It is clear that our customers and elected officials, like us, want strong action,” Vial said in a statement. “SUEZ is embarking on an aggressive effort to replace utility-owned lead service lines, work that will cost tens of millions of dollars in 2019 alone.”

Vial said that the utility is prioritizing work in municipalities with the highest number of utility-owned lead lines, as well as towns that have planned road work so it can replace the water pipes at the same time.

Michael Sol Warren may be reached at mwarren@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MSolDub. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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