Lacey draws on three aquifers, and its report shows low hardness
Lacey and Forked River water comes from the Lacey MUA, whose seven wells tap the Kirkwood-Cohansey, Atlantic City 800-Foot Sand and Potomac-Raritan-Magothy aquifers. Its 2026 report shows pH above 7, low hardness and odor above a secondary limit.
Sources checked .
Lacey's report gives specific numbers. They describe the utility's water in 2025 and say nothing about a private well down the road. Those can be very different, as below.
| Item | Reported |
|---|---|
| Wells, plants, mains | Seven wells, three treatment plants, 144 miles |
| Output | About 2 million gallons a day |
| pH | 7.30-7.90, average 7.62 |
| Hardness | 43-48.8 ppm |
| Sodium | 5.79-8.42 ppm |
| Chloride | 9.47-15 ppm |
| Iron | ND-0.032 ppm |
| Manganese | ND-0.013 ppm |
| Odor | 1.16-4.19 TON, secondary limit 3 TON |
| PFAS, regulated and unregulated | All non-detect in 2025 |
Lacey MUA 2026 annual report, PWSID NJ1512001; 2025 data unless the report dates a line otherwise
What should a Lacey customer watch?
The odor line is the one to read, because it went over the 3 TON secondary limit. That is the smell-and-taste list, and our brief on annual reports uses it as the example. If you get a PFAS notice in future, start here. The report says quarterly PFAS testing continues in 2026.
What about a private well in Lacey?
It may look nothing like the utility's. The Pinelands Commission's roster of August 2021 splits Lacey's land between the State Pinelands Area and the National Reserve. In NJDEP's analysis of Pinelands wells through March 2014, 57.8% tested below pH 5.5. Low pH can pull copper from house pipes. In this county the sale test adds mercury to the statewide list, as our story on that test explains.
Pinelands lot and septic rules are for the Commission to answer.
Is Lacey on sewer?
Check your own address. The Ocean County Utilities Authority lists the Lacey MUA among its customers, and that says nothing about any one street. Our septic or sewer brief shows how to tell. If you are on septic, your approvals run through the local board of health.
What if floodwater reaches a Lacey well?
If floodwater ever covers your wellhead, EPA's warning concerns the pump. Leave it off until the wiring has been looked at by a qualified electrician, well contractor or pump contractor. Our flood story has more.
Who to ask
- Lacey MUA: your account, the annual report and any odor questions.
- Ocean County Health Department: tests on a Lacey well, and septic matters.
- Pinelands Commission: what its rules mean for your lot.
Read next for Lacey & Forked River
On a well
- A well must be tested before a sale can close
- Your well report has two kinds of limits, and they mean different things
- The aquifer under Ocean County is acidic, and copper plumbing feels it
- Blue-green marks in the tub usually mean copper is leaving the pipes
- Your pH reading picks between a calcite tank and a soda ash feed
- Radium comes with the aquifer, and a 48-hour test finds it
On town water
- Ocean County's water comes from many suppliers and several different aquifers
- When the utility's PFAS notice arrives, start with the limit it names
- Your water report is mostly one table, and it reads left to right
- The letter about your service line comes from a 2021 state law
- Go on town water and you still have a well to deal with
- Somewhere near the curb, the water line becomes yours
Septic & sewer
- On Ocean County sand, septic rules begin with distance from the well
- The board of health signs off on septic work, and owners report trouble
- Selling a house with a cesspool usually means the cesspool has to go
- Three years for a look, three to five for a pump, EPA says
- After a flood, leave the septic tank alone until the field drains
- Septic or sewer? The bill and the health department file can settle it
Raised houses
- Lifting a house moves the plumbing into the weather and the flood
- Those holes in the foundation wall are required, and must stay open
- A raised house puts its water lines out in the cold
- Where the water heater goes once the house goes up
- After the water drops, leave the switches and pilot lights alone
- How a house goes up, and what happens to its pipes
Lagoons & bay
Where this comes from
- Lacey MUA 2026 report - wells, aquifers and water quality figures.
- Pinelands Area Municipalities, August 24, 2021 - Lacey's status.
- NJDEP Procopio talk, 2015 - Pinelands well pH.
- Ocean County Utilities Authority home page - customer list (archived copy).
- EPA, private wells after a flood - pump warning.