Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- Dover Township Mayor Ray Fox yesterday disputed Committeeman John F. Russo Jr.'s remark that Fox did not tell the rest of the committee that United Water Toms River had turned on a well with elevated radiation levels May 4.
"They were informed by a memo that was posted by their committee mail trays," in town hall, Fox said.
Fox said Committeemen Russo and John M. Furey, the two Democrats on the five-member committee, may not have seen the memo if they did not come to town hall that day, a Friday.
Fox, a Republican, also disputed Russo's statement that the township administrator's office was not informed about the well being turned on. He said Administrator Barbara A. Iasillo was notified by the water company May 4.
Russo made his comments Monday night at a meeting of the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster, where United Water and state health officials were strongly criticized for not issuing adequate public notice about a controversial well being turned on.
On May 4, United Water activated well 20, a well with elevated levels of naturally occurring radiation. The well, located off Indian Head Road, has not been used in the drinking water system for most of the past five years.
When water from well 20 is blended in United's drinking water system, the water that reaches customers' taps meets all state and federal drinking water standards, according to state test results.
But some residents and members of the citizens committee have raised concern about using the well water, saying they believe drinking water standards do not adequately protect the public.
"We weren't really informed until after the fact," Fox said, noting that well 20 had been turned on for some time before the water company called his office and also informed Iasillo.
Fox said that when he was notified that the well had been turned on, he issued a memo to the other four committee members.
The mayor yesterday read from a press release he said he issued May 4 to local newspapers, radio and television stations, urging residents to conserve water and informing them that well 20, along with United's interconnection with New Jersey-American Water Co., had both been activated.
The mayor's release also warned that wells 26 and 28 could have been activated over the weekend of May 5 to 6 if residents' water consumption did not drop. Those two wells, which capture and treat most of a plume of groundwater pollution from the Reich Farm Superfund site, were not turned on, as cooler temperatures dropped customers' water use.
Fox said he was annoyed to read in the Asbury Park Press yesterday that water company officials would be meeting May 23 with representatives from the township and the citizens committee to establish a better notification system.
"The only way I found out about the May 23 meeting was by reading it in the newspaper," Fox said. "I am the mayor and I should be there with one of them."
Published on May 16, 2001
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