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With consumption lower, water backup turned off in Toms River
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Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- Thunderstorms and cooler temperatures led to a drop in water consumption late Sunday night and yesterday, allowing United Water Toms River to close an interconnection with New Jersey-American Water Co. that was opened Friday.
United General Manager George Flegal said the link was activated Friday as a precaution because hot, dry weather was forecast for what was expected to be a busy summer weekend. It was turned off yesterday morning.
Flegal said preliminary figures indicate United's customers used more than 21 million gallons of water on Saturday. The company can supply about 23.5 million gallons per day.
Flegal said demand had dropped drastically yesterday, although he did not have exact figures on the amount of water used. United serves about 95,000 customers in Dover and Berkeley townships and South Toms River.
"We had rain, and that lowered the temperature," Flegal said of the drop in demand Sunday night and yesterday.
He said the interconnection was turned off after demand dropped and United's storage tanks were filled.
The interconnection with New Jersey-American, which can supply about 1 million gallons of water a day, is the first additional source of supply United activates when water supplies are becoming low.
If more water is needed, the company then turns on Well 20, an Indian Head Road well with elevated levels of naturally occurring radiation. If demand is still high, the company can then activate wells 26 and 28, which capture and treat a plume of groundwater contamination from the Reich Farm Superfund site.
Water from wells 26 and 28 has not been placed in the drinking water system since the summer of 1997. Well 20 was used in May, when unusually hot, dry weather and two wells that had been deactivated for maintenance forced the company to use other sources of supply.
Members of the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster, along with some other residents, have asked to be notified when water from New Jersey-American is used in the drinking water system because the water is not subject to the same level of testing as United's drinking water supplies.
United's water has been tested for between 250 and 300 chemical compounds as part of the ongoing federal and state investigation into elevated levels of some childhood cancers in Dover. Drinking water is normally tested for about 80 compounds.
Published on July 3, 2001
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