Belleville Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Belleville, New Jersey, in Essex County — a major north Essex County New Jersey community adjacent to Newark (Belleville is directly northeast of Newark in the Passaic River lowlands), historically a major industrial community (Belleville was known for its lace mills in the late 19th century — Belleville was the leading lace-manufacturing center in the United States in the 1880s–1890s), a diverse Essex County community with a significant Portuguese-American, Brazilian-American, and Haitian-American population (Belleville has one of the largest Portuguese-American and Azorean-American communities in New Jersey), and a densely populated north New Jersey urban-suburban community — draws its municipal water supply via the Passaic Valley Water Commission (PVWC). Water hardness in Belleville measures 39.5 mg/L — classified as very soft.

Belleville's very soft supply reflects the Passaic River watershed's calcareous-poor Newark Basin geology. The Wanaque and Oradell Reservoirs drain the Passaic River watershed (Triassic Newark Basin red shale and sandstone — the calcareous-poor Triassic rift basin sediments of the Newark Supergroup; and the Precambrian Highlands calcareous-poor gneiss of the Kittatinny Mountains). The highly calcareous-poor Passaic watershed geology produces the very soft 39.5 mg/L — one of the softest supplies in Essex County.

With hardness at 39.5 mg/L, Belleville residents enjoy very soft water. PVWC consistently delivers water meeting all New Jersey DEP and EPA Safe Drinking Water Act requirements.