New Jersey

New Jersey was the first state in the country to set an enforceable drinking water MCL for a PFAS compound. In 2018 the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection adopted an MCL of 13 parts per trillion for PFNA, and in 2020 followed with MCLs of 14 parts per trillion for PFOA and 13 parts per trillion for PFOS. These state values are stricter than the federal EPA MCLs of 4 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS finalized in April 2024 for the PFOA comparison but less strict for PFOS, while the PFNA value is stricter than the federal 10 parts per trillion.

The NJDEP issued Directive Number 1 in 2019 naming DuPont, Chemours, 3M, Solvay, and Arkema as responsible parties and ordering them to fund investigation and cleanup of statewide PFAS contamination. State records show the directive has driven tens of millions of dollars in remediation funding. Major contaminated sites include the DuPont Chambers Works in Pennsville, the Solvay plant in West Deptford, and the Paulsboro area.

The New Jersey legislature has passed product-level laws including a ban on PFAS in firefighting foam, in food packaging, and in cosmetics. The state has also published a PFAS Treatment and Destruction Roadmap through NJDEP.

Litigation has been extensive. The New Jersey Attorney General has filed lawsuits against 3M, DuPont, Chemours, Solvay, and others that have produced settlements valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Public water systems in New Jersey are subject to both the state MCLs and the federal compliance timeline requiring initial monitoring by 2027 and treatment installation by 2029.