Published in the Asbury Park Press
An Asbury Park Press editorial
As summer approaches, the 95,000 customers of United Water Toms River have every reason to expect their water supply to be adequate and safe. The company is expected to put a new well into service to supply an additional three million gallons of a water a day. United Water also is working with Dover Township and the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster to notify the public when any of three offline wells need to be used.
At the same time, the utility is again encouraging its customers to follow its lawn-watering conservation program, which United Water says saves 500,000 gallons a day during the summer. For the past few summers, the company has issued a daily advisory on the amount of water a healthy lawn needs.
This sensible call for conservation should not be interpreted as a sign of supply problems. People shouldn't waste water, no matter how abundant the short-term supply may be.
The Citizens Action Committee is wary of the possibility that water from wells 26 and 28 in the parkway well field may be pumped into the United Water system. Those wells were taken off line in 1996 after traces of a compound related to plastic production were detected. The cause is believed to be a plume of pollution from the Reich Farm Superfund site. The state Department of Environmental Protection's most recent tests, however, found no trace of the compound in treated water from the wells.
A third well, No. 20, was taken out of service earlier in 1996 after tests showed higher-than-normal levels of naturally occurring radiation.
At times of peak demand, the company has had to introduce water that has been filtered and treated from these wells into its system. United Water also has used an interconnect with New Jersey American Water Co. to the north.
Although the water supplied to its customers meets all safety standards, it does no harm to let the public know when the three wells must be used. Use of the interconnect should raise no eyebrows, however, unless there is reason to doubt the quality of New Jersey American's water.
Concern about the water stems from the unexplained number of cases of childhood cancer in the Toms River area, but no evidence to date points to the water from the parkway well field as a contributing factor. Indeed, its customers probably know more about the quality and source of United Water's supply than the customers of any utility in New Jersey.
Published on May 18, 2001
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