New Jersey American Water invests over $575 million in system upgrades in 2022, generating thousands of jobs and diverse supplier contracts

New Jersey American Water, one of the state’s largest water utility companies, recently announced that it invested over $575 million in system upgrades and improvement projects throughout its service areas in 2022. This investment not only enhances the quality and reliability of water services but also stimulates the state’s economy by creating over 9,000 jobs and supporting diverse suppliers.

Mark McDonough, the president of New Jersey American Water, stated that the investment helped fuel the state's economy, with over 25% of the suppliers being certified diverse businesses contracted through American Water’s Supplier Diversity Program. The investment also includes various infrastructure improvements, such as treatment plants, tanks, pump stations, miles of pipe, water mains, fire hydrants, and metering equipment.

Some of the highlights of the system improvement investments made by the company in 2022 are as follows:

• Mains: Over $228.4 million was invested in the installation, replacement, or rehabilitation of over 110 miles of main. This will help to improve water quality, pressure, fire protection, and service reliability. Additionally, approximately $4.3 million was invested in leak detection equipment to enhance the company's ability to respond to leaks and breaks.

• Source Water, Treatment, and Other Production System Improvements: Over $89.8 million was spent on improvements to the company's water treatment facilities, including rehabilitation of filters, iron removal, treatment upgrades, and automation and control system upgrades.

• Fire Hydrants: Approximately $19.2 million was invested in the replacement of 465 fire hydrants and 2,005 valves.

• Service Lines: Over $43.8 million was invested in the replacement of 11,469 service lines, including 2,565 lead or galvanized utility-owned and customer-owned service lines as part of the company's lead service line replacement program.

• Tanks/Storage: Approximately $13.5 million was invested in the rehabilitation of seven water tanks and detailed inspections of 56 tanks.

New Jersey American Water's multimillion-dollar program aims to accelerate the renewal of water infrastructure reaching the end of its useful life in more than 100 communities across the state. To learn more about the company's investment and upgrade programs, visit www.newjerseyamwater.com.