Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- Two Dover Township committeemen have called for the shutdown of United Water Toms River's Parkway well field, saying residents have legitimate concerns about the proximity of those wells to a Superfund site.
"The water company has assured everybody that it's tested, that it meets all state and federal standards," said John F. Russo Jr., who with fellow Committeeman John M. Furey said the well field should be shut down. "But we still have this problem that people believe it may not be safe."
A plume of groundwater contamination from the Reich Farm Superfund site has seeped into the parkway well field, off Dugan Lane one mile south of Reich Farm. In November 1996, United voluntarily shut down the eight wells in the parkway field after a chemical compound related to plastics production was discovered in wells 26 and 28.
The well field was turned back on in the spring of 1997.
United Water spokesman Richard Henning said the parkway well field makes up about 30 percent of the company's source of supply. United serves about 95,000 people in Dover, Berkeley and South Toms River.
"That well field in particular has been sort of the center of the water system for United Water in the Toms River area," Henning said. "To just take that out of the loop . . . obviously poses grave risks for the water supply for fire protection and the water supply for the community."
Henning said, however, that United would be willing to speak to the committeemen or anyone who has a plan to meet customers' water supply demands without the parkway well field.
He again stressed that United's water continues to meet all state and federal drinking standards.
Russo said yesterday that he and Furey do not have an alternative plan, believing it is the water company's responsibility to provide safe drinking water.
Russo and Furey called for the parkway well field shutdown days after United Water officials asked customers to conserve water during an early-season heat wave.
With two wells down for repairs last week, United struggled to meet demands as temperatures rose into the 90s.
The company was forced to draw from a connection with the New Jersey-American Water Co., and company officials also turned on well 20 on Indian Head Road which has been used only sporadically over the past 4 1/2 years because there are elevated levels of naturally occurring radiation.
Had the heat wave persisted, the company might have had to rely on parkway wells 26 and 28, which have not been used since summer 1997, United General Manager George Flegal said.
Those two wells capture and treat most of the Reich Farm plume. Currently, the well water is treated to remove pollutants. It is then pumped onto the ground and not used in the drinking water system, although it meets drinking water standards after treatment.
"If they're safe, why aren't they online?" Russo asked of the two wells.
Officials from United, DEP and the state health department have said they have left wells 20, 26 and 28 off-line for most of the past 4 1/2 years because of the public's concerns about the water quality. But officials have agreed that United could use all three wells in emergency situations.
Published on May 9, 2001
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