Ocean Acres Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Ocean Acres, New Jersey, in Ocean County — an unincorporated Ocean County community adjacent to Manahawkin and Barnegat near the Barnegat Bay in south-central New Jersey — receives its municipal water from New Jersey American Water or the Ocean County Utilities Authority, drawing from local reservoir or groundwater sources in the Ocean County Pine Barrens watershed.

The moderately hard 113 mg/L hardness and TDS of 240.1 mg/L reflect the south New Jersey Pine Barrens coastal supply's moderate calcareous character — somewhat elevated for a Pine Barrens watershed (pure Cohansey Sand Aquifer communities can be very soft at ~20-50 mg/L), suggesting Ocean Acres draws from a deeper zone or from a treatment supply that blends the somewhat calcareous Eocene Vincentown Formation input. The Ocean County watershed drains the New Jersey Pine Barrens — Cretaceous Cohansey Sand (siliceous and insoluble), Eocene Vincentown Formation (calcareous glauconitic sand — the moderate hardness contributor).

At 113 mg/L, Ocean Acres' water is moderately hard — scale builds in kettles and appliances over months, dishwashers benefit from rinse aid, and faucet aerators need periodic cleaning. Quarterly descaling is appropriate. The PFAS level of 9.3 ppt warrants a certified reverse osmosis drinking water filter — Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (Ocean-Burlington County — AFFF, the dominant south New Jersey Pine Barrens PFAS source), and the New Jersey military PFAS complex contribute to Ocean Acres' elevated readings.