Published in the Asbury Park Press
BY JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
DOVER TOWNSHIP — Rosemarie Intile approached the microphone at the Jan. 24 Township Council meeting, holding a petition and seeking a promise.
The petition, signed by nearly 100 homeowners in the township's Windsor Park section, asked township officials to extend public water to the area, where 300 to 400 homes still rely on well water.
The promise Intile sought was a commitment by those on the dais to do everything in their power to hook up those homes, located in a section of town where groundwater contamination is common.
"I don't care whose responsibility it is," said Intile, who lives on Boxer Street. "It will be only a matter of time before it gets into other wells."
The state Department of Environmental Protection has found mercury and volatile organic contaminants, including trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, all possible or known human carcinogens, in at least 31 private wells in Windsor Park. The neighborhood is in eastern Dover near Barnegat Bay.
Vision Avenue resident Stephanie Mezza said several wells at homes near her property have shown traces of contamination. She is concerned that the chemicals will soon seep into her well.
Testing has been conducted in the area since 1996, and initially 21 drinking water wells were found to be polluted.
DEP spokesman Fred Mumford said the source of the pollution is not known, but in a location with a very high water table, it is possible that anything from dry cleaning solvents to septic tank cleaners could have had an impact.
DEP has footed bill
The DEP paid for 80 homes in the area of Veeder, Windsor and Beachwood avenues to be connected to the United Water Toms River system several years ago. The wells at those homes were included in a groundwater contamination zone delineated by the agency.
Mumford said that in 2004, officials from the Ocean County Health Department notified the DEP that 10 more wells located outside the contamination zone were polluted with mercury and volatile organic chemicals.
The results, discovered because the county requires testing when a home with a private well is sold, have led the DEP to extend the boundary of the contamination area to include 40 more houses. Since the contamination was discovered, the DEP has paid for treatment systems to be installed on the polluted wells to remove contaminants.
Mumford said public water will be extended to those 40 houses using $580,000 in state money raised through corporate business taxes. "We should have the funds authorized within the next couple of weeks, and then we will sign the contracts with United Water and the township," Mumford said.
But township officials said more must be done.
"We have people who may or may not be getting sick because of where they live in our town," Councilman Michael J. Fiure said. "We should consider doing the work ourselves and suing DEP and United Water for reimbursement of our costs."
Councilwoman Maria Maruca said she will lobby for the township to pay for all homes with private wells in the area to be connected to United Water's system. Maruca represents Ward 1, which includes Windsor Park.
She said she hopes that homes with private wells in other areas of town, including Pleasant Plains in the northwest section, can also be connected. Maruca estimated there are about 500 homes in Dover that still rely on private wells.
Mayor calls meeting today
Mayor Paul C. Brush said he plans to meet today with Dover department heads and Maruca to discuss the feasibility of connecting at least all Windsor Park homes to public water.
"This goes to the most basic fear that we have, the fear for our safety," Brush said. "The bigger issue here is not so much how we're going to deal with the known contamination, but how we deal with the unknown contamination, the stuff that has not shown up yet."
Brush said Township Attorney Mark A. Troncone is preparing a report on the township's legal options, while Engineer Robert Chankalian is looking into the cost. After the meeting with township officials, Brush said he and Maruca will schedule a follow-up session with residents, probably later this week, to discuss the matter.
Maruca has suggested lobbying both DEP and United Water to at least share some of the cost of connecting all the homes. But in the past, state officials have said that they have a limited pot of money and can only pay to extend water lines to homes that are determined to be directly affected by pollution.
The township may also face difficulties because the DEP in September prohibited new connections to United Water's system after the company exceeded its state water allocation in three of the past five years. The 40 Windsor Park homes that are in the known contamination area have been exempted from the prohibition.
It is unclear if homes outside the contamination area would be permitted to connect, even if township officials chose to pay for the work.
Mumford said the DEP will continue to monitor ground water in the area to make sure the pollution does not spread.
Published in the Asbury Park Press 01/31/06
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