The bid opening for a two-year multi-million-dollar Lakewood construction project is set for this month.

The project encompasses two new water treatment plants and arises from 2020 legislation pushing water purveyors across the country to address the health concern of increasingly common chemicals known as PFAS, in the water.

PFAS, otherwise known as ‘forever’ chemicals because they do not degrade over time, originate from such common products as teflon pans, stain-resistant carpeting, grease- and water-proof food packaging, fabric softeners, cosmetics, in addition to other common sources. Water heat and oil have no impact on their molecular structure, so they remain in the system and have been proven to cause serious health issues over time.

Lakewood’s new Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) treatment plants will be built on New Hampshire and Shorrock Street and will look like the Shorrock Street treatment plant, but a little larger. The current plant on Shorrock is used to remove mercury from the MUA well water.

The MUA applied for the money needed to fund the mandated project in August. With the loan application approved, all that was needed was for the Township to sign off on the project which they did in late October.

New Jersey has some of the most stringent PFAS drinking water codes in the USA.