Hillside Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Hillside, New Jersey, in Union County — an urban Union County township immediately adjacent to Newark and Elizabeth, at the intersection of the I-78 and I-278 Newark metropolitan corridor — receives its municipal water from New Jersey American Water or the Elizabethtown Water Company, which draws from the Raritan River Basin reservoir system or the Wanaque Reservoir network in northern New Jersey. These interconnected reservoir systems supply Union County's urban communities through New Jersey's extensive north-central water distribution infrastructure.

The moderately soft 95.5 mg/L hardness and TDS of 189.5 mg/L reflect the Raritan and Wanaque watershed blend, which accesses the softer Precambrian Reading Prong Highlands (Precambrian gneiss, quartzite, and related crystalline rocks — low-mineral terrain) in greater proportion than the harder Triassic Newark Basin rock units. New Jersey American Water's treatment softening further reduces the finished hardness for the Union County distribution zone, producing a moderately soft supply softer than the raw Triassic-dominant watershed would produce alone.

At 95.5 mg/L, Hillside's water is moderately soft — comfortable for household appliances. Scale forms slowly over many months, soap lathers well, and the dishwasher produces clean results without special treatment. Semi-annual descaling of heating appliances is adequate. The elevated PFAS level of 8.3 ppt warrants a certified drinking water filter — Union County's position in New Jersey's densely industrialized northeast corridor (chemical plants, former manufacturing facilities along the Raritan and Passaic River corridors, Newark's industrial waterfront), combined with the Raritan Basin's well-documented PFAS contamination from multiple industrial and military sources, produces an elevated Union County PFAS profile.