The DEP says the new standards are based on new scientific findings about the dangers of chromium. So far the plan has been presented informally, but the DEP expects to officially propose new regulations later this year. In the meantime, cleanups are on hold but preliminary studies are continuing, Gimello said. Giving up on purifying water DEP officials are working with a group of about 20 companies in the Ironbound section of Newark to reclassify that area's contaminated ground water as non-drinkable, relieving them of the responsibility of cleaning it. The project's organizer, environmental attorney Albert Telsey, says that multimillion-dollar cleanup efforts wouldn't work anyway, and that nature will purify the water over decades.
Environmentalists say precious water resources are, in effect, being written off.
The Ironbound's ground water, which is tainted with metals and petroleum products, is not used as drinking water. But critics say the contaminants could spread to nearby rivers or other aquifers. About 10 percent of the state's aquifers, those underlying major urban areas, are eligible for reclassification, Telsey said. The companies contributed to the pollution but are not its sole source, Gimello said. The process for such reclassifications was outlined by the DEP when it rewrote its ground water rules in 1993, and the idea picked up steam after the Whitman administration took over, Telsey said.