Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
Senator involved in discussions with United Water Toms River
TOMS RIVER -- State Sen. Andrew R. Ciesla has been working with United Water Toms River to find alternative sources of water that could replace the company's controversial parkway well field, a spokesman for Ciesla said yesterday.
Ciesla, R-Ocean, has been the lead figure in an ongoing effort to find other water sources that would allow the company to discontinue use of the parkway well field, said the spokesman, Ralph Hahn.
"Several months ago, Andy had approached United Water executives and said, 'Come up with some alternatives' " to the parkway well field, Hahn said.
The goal is to make sure "there would be adequate water supply year-round, without having to go to the parkway well field," Hahn said.
Hahn said Ciesla and members of his staff met April 24 with United Water General Manager George Flegal, other United executives and three members of the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster, including committee chairwoman Linda L. Gillick and members Kevin Root and Stefany Gesser. Hahn also attended.
Hahn said United Water has hired a Philadelphia-based engineering firm to complete a report about the possibility of finding alternative sources to replace the parkway well field, along with the potential costs of those sources. The firm has not yet completed its report.
Ciesla did not want to make public the discussions with United Water until an agreement could be reached, Hahn said.
However, Ciesla decided to release details of the ongoing discussions, Hahn said, after Dover Township Committeemen John F. Russo Jr. and John M. Furey on Tuesday called for the shutdown of the parkway well field. Both committeemen are Democrats.
"Andy started looking into this months ago, probably about the beginning of the year," Hahn said.
The parkway well field, located off Dugan Lane, contains eight wells that make up about 30 percent of United Water's source of supply. United serves about 95,000 people in Dover and Berkeley townships and South Toms River.
Sections of the well field have been contaminated by a plume of groundwater contamination that has seeped into the parkway field from the Reich Farm Superfund site, located one mile north.
Wells 26 and 28 in the parkway field capture and treat the pollution plume. Both wells are equipped with air stripping systems and carbon filtration to remove contaminants.
The treated water is pumped back onto the ground and not used in the drinking water system except in emergency situations.
The last time the two wells were used in the drinking water system was in the summer of 1997, but hot, dry weather last week led Flegal to warn that the two wells might have to be turned on if customers' water usage did not drop.
The arrival of cooler weather over the weekend dropped water usage and water from the two wells was not put into the drinking water system.
The cleaned water from the two wells meets all state and federal drinking water standards, but many residents have raised concerns about its safety.
Wells 22 and 29, also located in the parkway field, were outfitted with carbon filtration systems in 1999. Contamination from the plume had been seen sporadically in well 29 in the past, while no pollution has been found in well 22.
Published on May 10, 2001
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