Published in the Asbury Park Press
BY KIRK MOORE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
Dover officials hail Ciesla plan
TOMS RIVER — Water suppliers would be required to send regular reports about their water supply allocations and any overruns in usage to local municipal officials, under legislation drafted by state Sen. Andrew R. Ciesla, R-Ocean.
The legislation was requested by the mayor and Township Council of Dover Township, where shortfalls in the state-issued water supply allocations to United Water Toms River have kept local officials, home builders and citizens' groups in turmoil for months.
Ciesla and his colleagues in the 10th Legislative District, Assemblymen David W. Wolfe and James W. Holzapfel, are circulating draft text for the proposed bill among interested parties, and will prepare a final draft for filing in the Legislature soon, said district office aide Brad Schnure.
"Had this been in place months ago, we would have known of all kinds of problems," said Township Council President Gregory P. McGuckin, who wrote to the legislators Feb. 7 asking them for help. "Had we known of the allocation issues, we could have brought this forward and gotten it resolved."
Last year Dover officials complained they were caught off guard by the state Department of Environmental Protection's decision to prohibit new connections to United's system in early September, after the agency learned the water company had exceeded its water allocations.
The DEP has statewide authority to control water supply, and its allocations are essentially permits that allow water purveyors to withdraw and sell a set volume of water over the course of the year. The DEP's moratorium on connecting new customers to the United Water system has stopped almost all new construction in Dover and South Toms River, as well as in the Holiday City and Silver Ridge sections of Berkeley.
Mayor Paul C. Brush and council members said they were never informed by either the DEP or United Water that the company had exceeded its allocation permit in three of the past five years.
In another revelation, United Water officials disclosed Feb. 8 that they had failed to notify the DEP about seven instances of elevated radiation levels found during routine testing in 2005.
The Ciesla legislation "is a step on the right direction, but it's not just allocation," said Linda Gillick, who chairs the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster. "We've been at this for how many years now, and we find out the state only requires radiological testing every three years? That's wrong. I'd like to see that included in the (Ciesla) bill, too."
Water experts say radiation in groundwater comes from naturally occurring minerals in certain deep sand formations. The elevated readings were found in a Whitesville Road well and at two other points, in Berkeley and at company well field near the Garden State Parkway in Dover. But water distributed to customers met or exceeded all state and federal standards, including those for radiation, company officials said.
This story includes information from Asbury Park Press archives.
Published in the Asbury Park Press 03/14/06
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