Mercer County Water Treatment and Water Testing
A Clear Alternative is a family-owned South Jersey water treatment company serving
Mercer County, New Jersey since 1991. We are based at 9230 Collins Ave in Pennsauken — about
40 to 60 minutes from most of Mercer County — and we treat water, test water, and deliver bulk
water across 8 New Jersey counties: Burlington, Camden, Atlantic, Gloucester, Salem, Cape May, Mercer, and Monmouth. More than 9,000 customers, NJ-licensed
technicians, free in-home water analysis, and a live phone line at 1-888-577-8088 24 hours a
day.
This page covers what Mercer County water is actually like, what we install to fix it, and
which towns we serve. For the full service overview, start with
water treatment.
What Mercer County water is like
Mercer County is split by geology in a way no other county we serve is, and it changes
the water twice within twenty minutes of driving. Most residents are on municipal water,
so Mercer is one of our city-water counties — but the private wells that remain, mostly
in the northwest, are unlike anything in the Pinelands.
On the city-water side — Hamilton, Lawrence, Ewing, Trenton, Robbinsville, the
Windsors, Hightstown — the complaints are consistent: chlorine and chloramine taste
and odor, hardness and scale on fixtures, glassware and water heaters, and
drinking-water quality worries in older housing stock where lead service lines and
lead solder inside the home are the real exposure route, not the source water.
Whole-house carbon filtration plus point-of-use reverse osmosis is the standard homeowner
response.
On the well side — Hopewell Township, Pennington’s outskirts, western Lawrence, and
the rural edges of the Princeton area — wells are drilled into Newark Basin bedrock
(shale, argillite and sandstone), not sand. That produces genuinely hard water,
higher total dissolved solids, iron and manganese, and sometimes a sulfur smell. Fractured
bedrock wells in this region are also the ones screened for arsenic and radon in
water, both of which occur naturally in Newark Basin rock. Neither has a taste or odor,
so testing is the only way to know.
Southeastern Mercer — Hamilton’s outer wards, Robbinsville, East Windsor — transitions
onto the Coastal Plain sands, where any remaining wells behave more like Burlington
County wells: softer, more acidic, more iron.
Why Mercer County water needs the right system, not a package
Mercer County straddles the Fall Line. Northwest of it lies the Piedmont and the Newark
Basin — Stockton, Lockatong, and Passaic formation shales and argillites — where water
moves through rock fractures and picks up dissolved minerals, hardness, and locally
arsenic or radon. Southeast of it the Coastal Plain begins, with the sandy
Potomac-Raritan-Magothy and younger aquifers.
That means a Hopewell bedrock well and a Robbinsville sand well need almost opposite
equipment, and a Hamilton home on municipal water needs neither. We test at the tap or
the wellhead first, then size the system.
Water treatment services we provide in Mercer County
- Whole-house treatment: water softeners and conditioners, iron and manganese
filters, sulfur (H2S) removal, acid neutralizers for low pH, sediment filtration,
UV sterilization, ozone, chemical injection (soda ash, chlorine), deionization, and
whole-house carbon filtration. See water treatment. - Drinking water: reverse osmosis systems for the kitchen tap.
- Free water testing: we test at your home, well or city, and explain the results —
hardness, iron, manganese, pH, sulfur, bacteria, nitrates, VOCs, radium, arsenic,
sediment, turbidity, and PFAS. See water testing. - Bulk water delivery: potable and non-potable bulk water,
plus dispensing tanks and storage equipment. - Supplies: softener salt (NaCl, KCl), soda ash, caustic soda, potassium
permanganate, and 15% chlorine. - 24/7 emergency service: no-water calls,
failed pumps, burst pipes.
Work is performed by NJ-licensed technicians; we also hold NJ State Licensed Operator
credentials for very small water systems through T-4.
Towns we serve in Mercer County
We have detailed local pages for these Mercer County communities:
We also serve — with no dedicated page yet — Princeton, West Windsor Township, East Windsor Township, Robbinsville Township, Hopewell Township, Hopewell Borough, Pennington, Ewing Township, Trenton, and Hightstown. If your town is not
listed, call 1-888-577-8088. If we can drive there, we can serve you.
Bulk water delivery in Mercer County
We deliver bulk potable and non-potable water across Mercer County for pool fills and
top-ups in Hamilton, Lawrence, the Windsors and Princeton, hot tub fills, construction
and dust-control water, temporary potable water during main work or well outages, and
holding-tank refills for rural and equestrian properties in Hopewell and Upper Mercer.
Learn more about bulk water delivery and
dispensing tanks.
Nearby counties we serve
Burlington County water treatment
Monmouth County water treatment
Camden County water treatment
Or see the full areas served directory.
Why Mercer County chooses A Clear Alternative
Family-owned since 1991 — 35 years of South Jersey water. 9,000+ customers across 8 NJ
counties. NJ-licensed technicians. 4.6 stars from 98+ verified Google reviews. Free
in-home water analysis, honest pricing, and 24/7 emergency service.
Cost depends on your water test results, household size, and flow rate. Every quote
follows a free in-home water analysis, and we price the job before any work starts.
Financing is available.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mercer County water hard?
Often yes, and more so than most of South Jersey. Municipal supplies here typically run moderately hard, and private wells drilled into Newark Basin bedrock in the Hopewell and Princeton area can be genuinely hard with high dissolved solids. A properly sized softener pays for itself in appliance and water-heater life.
Why does my Hamilton or Lawrence tap water smell like chlorine?
That is the disinfectant residual your utility must maintain to the tap. Activated carbon removes free chlorine readily; chloramine needs more carbon contact time and the right media. Whole-house carbon filtration solves the shower and laundry complaints, and an RO unit handles drinking water.
Should I test a bedrock well in Hopewell or near Princeton for arsenic?
Yes. Arsenic and radon occur naturally in Newark Basin bedrock in this part of New Jersey, and neither has a taste, color, or smell. They are not in a basic well panel unless you ask. We can arrange certified laboratory testing and, if arsenic is present, install adsorptive media or point-of-use reverse osmosis.
What should I do about lead in an older Mercer County home?
Lead comes from lead service lines, lead solder, and older brass fixtures rather than the source water. If your home predates 1986, have the water tested at the tap and use certified point-of-use filtration for drinking and cooking water.
Do you serve Mercer County even though you are based in Camden County?
Yes. Mercer is one of our 8 New Jersey counties and has been since we started in 1991. Most of the county is 40 to 60 minutes from our Pennsauken shop, and 1-888-577-8088 is answered around the clock.
Do I need a water test if I am on city water?
It is worth doing, and ours is free. Utility reports describe the water leaving the plant and the distribution system, not what arrives at your kitchen faucet after passing through your own service line, plumbing, and water heater. We test at the tap and tell you what is actually there.
Contact A Clear Alternative
A Clear Alternative • 9230 Collins Ave, Pennsauken, NJ 08110
Phone: 1-888-577-8088 (toll-free, live 24/7)
Mon–Fri 8:00 AM–4:30 PM • 24/7 emergency service
Service area: Burlington, Camden, Atlantic, Gloucester, Salem, Cape May, Mercer, and Monmouth counties, plus limited parts of PA, NY, and DE
Ready to fix your water in Mercer County?
Schedule Your Free Water Test. A licensed technician tests your water at your home,
explains the results, and recommends only what your water needs.
Call 1-888-577-8088 or request your free water test on this page.
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