On Jan. 2, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) rang in the new year by publishing a Proposed Rule updating the Ground Water Quality Standards (GWQS) for 65 of the 73 constituents currently regulated for Class II-A groundwater. As most readers know, the department uses the GWQS as base standards for the remediation of groundwater contamination. For most ongoing and future cleanups, the updated GWQS will apply. For previously closed sites, the impact of the Proposed Rule will depend on a number of factors, including (1) whether any of the contaminants with updated standards still exist and (2) whether the updated standards resulted in an order of magnitude change.

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