Public Hearing on Proposed Amendments to the Ground Water Quality Standards and Remediation Standards

The Department is proposing to amend the Ground Water Quality Standards at N.J.A.C. 7:9C to update the specific ground water quality criteria and/or practical quantitation levels for 73 constituents of Class II-A ground water based on United States Environmental Protection Agency methodologies and the best available scientific information. These proposed updates will result in changes to the ground water quality standards for 65 of the 73 constituents. In addition, the Department is proposing to amend N.J.A.C. 7:9C-1.7(c)3i to enable the Department to update the specific ground water quality criterion for a constituent with a corresponding maximum contaminant level (MCL) in the New Jersey Safe Drinking Water Act rules, N.J.A.C. 7:10, when the Department determines that the “weight of evidence” approach specified at N.J.A.C. 7:9C-1.7(c)3ii would more appropriately address the risk posed by the constituent than the health-based level used to establish the MCL. The Department is also proposing amendments to the default values for body weight and drinking water consumption rate and to the rounding provisions.

Additionally, the Department is proposing to amend the Remediation Standards at N.J.A.C. 7:26D-7.2(b) to enable the Department to update the attendant remediation standard when it modifies or adds a ground water quality criterion to Appendix Table 1 through either rulemaking or notice of administrative change.

The proposal was published in the New Jersey Register on January 2, 2024. A copy of the proposal is available from: www.nj.gov/dep/rules/notices.html.

A public hearing concerning the proposal will be held on January 30, 2024 at 10:00 AM. The hearing will be conducted virtually through the Department’s video conferencing software, Microsoft Teams. The hearing will be recorded and will remain open until all testimony has been heard.

January 30, 2024 Public Hearing

Start Time: 10:00 am
Click HERE to join meeting or call in (audio only): +1 856-338-7074 Phone Conference ID: 776 115 959#

Prior to entering the hearing, participants are strongly encouraged to read the following information and guidelines:

• Access to the public hearing is available on your computer or mobile device through either the Microsoft Teams application or the device’s web browser.
• The web browsers that best support Microsoft Teams meetings are Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge, Chrome, and Firefox.
• The hearing will begin promptly at the designated starting time.
• The hearing will be moderated by a NJDEP representative.
• Prior to entering the hearing, participants will be provided a field to enter their name. In order to achieve an accurate record of attendees to the hearing, the NJDEP is requesting that, in the provided field, participants type their full name and the organization that they represent.
• At the beginning of the meeting, a NJDEP representative will provide a brief demonstration on how to unmute/mute your microphones, how to turn off your video feed, and how to access the hearing’s conversation box. Click HERE to access the user guide that covers this information.
• As a courtesy to other people testifying, participants will be muted until they are called upon by the NJDEP hearing officer/moderator to testify. At that time, participants will be expected to unmute their microphones to provide testimony.
• If an attendee to the public hearing would like to provide testimony, they should notify the NJDEP hearing officer/moderator of their interest by typing their name and the name of the organization that they represent in the conversation box for the Microsoft Teams virtual meeting room. When called upon for testimony, participants will be asked to re-state this information.
• The hearing will be recorded for public record. Although the online hearing allows for video testimony, it is not required. If you do not wish to submit video testimony, please turn off your video feed during the hearing.
• Any persons who are participating by phone will also be given a chance to testify.