N.J.S.A. 58:12A-43 — Written notice of composition of service line.

58:12A-43 Written notice of composition of service line. 4. a. No later than 30 days after submitting an initial service line inventory to the department pursuant to subsection c. of section 3 of P.L.2021, c.183 (C.58:12A-42), and periodically thereafter as the department may require, a public community water system shall send, to each customer and non-paying consumer served by a lead service line in the service area, and to any off-site owner of property served by a lead service line in the service area, written notice of the composition of the service line. b. A notice provided pursuant to this section shall: (1) be sent, by certified mail, to each residential, commercial, or institutional address affected by the known lead service line and addressed to the primary resident or commercial or institutional occupant thereof, as appropriate. Notice shall be sent to all affected addresses, as provided in this paragraph, regardless of whether the resident or occupant is a system customer or is a non-paying consumer; (2) be sent, by certified mail, to each off-site owner of property affected by the known lead service line and addressed to the property owner's last known address, as determined through the review of local property tax and other available records; (3) be included in a mailing that is separate and distinct from the water bill that is issued for the property. The notice shall contain large, easily readable text and be presented on distinctly colored paper or other paper that is easily distinguishable from the water billing statement; and (4) include, at a minimum: (a) a list of the lead service lines that are being used to serve the customer or non-paying consumer; (b) information describing the sources of lead in drinking water, including lead service lines and household plumbing; (c) a description of the health effects of lead exposure; and (d) the steps that system customers and non-paying consumers in the service area can take to reduce their exposure to lead in drinking water. c. (1) If the recipient of notice provided pursuant to this section is the owner or operator of an apartment building, group home, or other multi-family or multi-unit dwelling, such owner or operator shall provide a hard copy of the notice to each existing resident of the multi-family or multi-unit dwelling and shall additionally post a copy of the notice in a conspicuous location in a common area of the dwelling. The owner or operator shall also inform each new resident of the multi-family or multi-unit dwelling, prior to their residence, about the existence of the lead service line, and shall provide each new resident with a hard copy of the notice received pursuant to this section, upon the commencement of their residence. A notice posted in a common area of a multi-family or multi-unit dwelling, pursuant to this subsection, may be removed only after all of the lead service lines identified in the notice have been replaced and determined to be non-lead service lines. (2) If the owner or operator of a residential rental property, including an apartment building, group home, or other multi-family or multi-unit dwelling, receives notice pursuant to this section, and the owner or operator offers a dwelling unit within the residential property for rent to a prospective or current tenant, then the lease or renewal agreement shall be conditioned on the owner�s or operator�s commitment not to obstruct a public water system, as defined in section 3 of P.L.1977, c.224 (C.58:12A-3), from replacing a lead service line by denying access to the property owner-side of the lead service line. If the owner or operator obstructs the replacement of a lead service line by denying access to the property owner-side of the lead service line, then the lease or renewal agreement shall remain in effect, but the tenant may terminate the agreement any time thereafter without incurring any charge or penalty otherwise imposed under the agreement for such termination. (3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to preclude an owner from seeking to arrange reasonable conditions upon a public water system, its contactors, or subcontractors, specifically with regard to scheduling the replacement of a lead service line and related site restoration work. d. If a public community water system serves a municipality in which the primary language of 10 percent or more of the residents is a language other than English, the public community water system shall provide the notice required pursuant to subsection a. of this section in both English and the other language spoken by residents. L.2021, c.183, s.4; amended 2025, c.144, s.5. 52:12A-44 Submission of initial plan for replacing all lead service lines. 5. a. No later than 12 months after the effective date of this act, each public community water system shall submit, to the department, an initial plan for replacing all lead service lines within its service area. The plan shall be annually updated to be consistent with the annual updates to the system's service line inventory, which are required pursuant to section 3 of this act, and shall remain in effect until all lead services lines within the system's service area have been identified and replaced. b. Each lead service line replacement plan and annual update thereto shall: (1) provide for the average annual replacement of at least 10 percent of all lead service lines that were known to, and identified by, the public community water system on the date it submitted its initial service line replacement plan to the department, pursuant to subsection a. of this section; (2) provide for the replacement of all lead service lines within the system's service area, no later than 10 years after the effective date of this act, regardless of whether the lines were known or unknown to the public community water system on the date that it submitted its initial plan to the department pursuant to subsection a. of this section. Each public community water system in the State shall be encouraged to complete the replacement of all lead service lines in its service area within 10 years after the effective date of this act, as provided in the system's lead service line replacement plan; however, notwithstanding the provisions of this paragraph to the contrary, the public community water system shall be authorized to continue lead service line replacement activities for a maximum period of 15 years if necessary to enable the system to fully comply with the provisions of this act; (3) include a plan for notifying consumers of health effects and steps they may take to reduce their exposure to lead before and after any lead service line replacement; and (4) include any other information or certifications required by the department. c. (1) Except during an emergency, such as a water main or service line break, or during a water main replacement, a public community water system shall not conduct a partial replacement of a lead service line. In all instances, the public community water system shall make a good faith effort to replace the entire lead service line and shall conduct a partial replacement only as a last resort. A partial replacement of a lead service line shall not count toward the public community water system's replacement requirements pursuant to subsection b. of this section. (2) A public community water system shall not suspend the water service of a customer solely because of a denial of access to the property owner-side of a lead service line for the replacement of a lead service line pursuant to this act. d. (1) A public community water system may apply for, and the department may approve, a reasonable extension of any target or deadline set forth in this section if the public community water system demonstrates to the department that the extension is necessary to meet a service reliability demand or public health need, not related to lead abatement, within the system. (2) A government entity that owns a public community water system may apply for, and the department, in consultation with the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs, may approve, a reasonable extension of any target or deadline set forth in this section if the government-owned system demonstrates to the department that the extension is necessary because the system or the municipality is experiencing financial distress. e. Notwithstanding the provisions of R.S.40:56-1 to the contrary, any costs incurred by a government-owned public community water system to assess or replace a lead service line pursuant to this act, excluding any portion funded by grants or other subsidies, may be borne by all of the customers of the government-owned public water system or may be assessed to a property of a property owner in the same manner as provided for the assessment of local improvements, pursuant to R.S.40:56-1 et seq., upon notice to the Director of the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs. L.2021, c.183, s.5.

This is the verbatim text of N.J.S.A. 58:12A-43, retrieved from the New Jersey Legislature's public statute corpus. Statutes are amended periodically — for the most current version, check the external source link above. Kyzer is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice.