Editor's Note: If your home is served by Suez and has been tested for lead, we would like to hear from you. Please contact Scott Fallon at fallon@northjersey.com or 973-569-7100.

UPDATE 1/18/2019: The owner of one of the 16 homes that had elevated lead levels tells her story here: Lead in drinking water: Rutherford home is five times above EPA standard

Elevated lead levels have been found in the drinking water of some homes in Bergen and Hudson counties, prompting the Suez water company to investigate whether corrosion controls are working, the company announced Wednesday.

The company found high levels of the toxic metal in 16 of 108 homes it tested in the second half of 2018 — the most the company has ever recorded.

Suez did not immediately identify which towns the homes are in but said it was widespread throughout its service area of 200,000 homes and businesses.

Suez said the lead contamination likely came from two places: pipes that extend from water mains under the street into homes, and lead fixtures in homes.

Suez said this is not a systemwide problem. No lead has been detected in the water leaving the company's treatment plant in Haworth near the Oradell Reservoir.

Experts say there should be no lead at all in drinking water because it is harmful, especially to children, even at low levels and accumulates in the body over time.

Checking your home's lead levels

Suez customers can find out if they may be served by a lead line by checking their online account at mysuezwater.com/njwq , visiting SUEZWQ.com , or calling or emailing the customer service center at 800-422-5987 and sueznjcustserv@suez-na.com.

Suez will test homes that are served by a company-owned lead service line for free.

A water filter that removes lead will be provided to a customer if those test results are above the government standard

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Lead gets into tap water most often when lead service pipes corrode because the water has high acidity or low mineral content.

"The question for Suez is what changes occurred in the water chemistry to get to these lead levels," said Daniel Van Abs, a water use expert at Rutgers University.

At a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, Suez President David Stanton said acid levels are "exactly where they are supposed to be."

Stanton said the company will spend a year monitoring its corrosion control program, which includes applying phosphate to the pipes that provide a barrier from lead and copper.

"We think it's working fine right now, but we're going to do a full year of testing before we are sure of it," he said.

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Under federal rules, a water provider must take action to control corrosion if lead concentrations exceed 15 parts per billion in more than 10 percent of customer taps sampled, as is the case now with Suez.

All 108 homes tested by Suez had lead lines.

About 5 percent of Suez's service lines — the pipe from the water main to the property line — contain lead. About 15 percent of the company's pipe system has lead "goosenecks" — a short piece of flexible piping that connects a water main to a service line. That adds up to 30,000 to 35,000 homes.

Suez said it's replacing its lead infrastructure at a rate of about 7 percent a year

An estimated 350,000 homes and businesses throughout New Jersey are served by lead service lines, according to a state water task force. Lead pipes were common in buildings constructed before 1940, and lead solder was used in piping until 1986.

Replacing them can be expensive. It costs $3,500 to $6,000 for a homeowner to replace the lead service line on a property, Suez executives said.

Suez executives have said the company has had a corrosion control treatment program in place for decades. It involves treating pipes with a protective coating that prevents lead from entering the water.

Lead has been a persistent problem in New Jersey's drinking water as more attention has been paid to the issue since the start of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

A report in 2017 showed that lead had been detected in more than half of the water fountains and sinks in 47 school districts tested in Bergen County. This led school officials to shut down water fountains in districts including Teaneck, Bogota and Englewood.

The Passaic Valley Water Commission said in 2017 that it would spend as much as $5.5 million to replace the 800 remaining lead pipes in its system.

Late last year, Newark began distributing 40,000 water filters to its residents after high lead levels were detected over at least 18 months.