Published in the Asbury Park Press
By Jean Mikle
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
DOVER TOWNSHIP — It was not the lack of water on Memorial Day that most angered members of the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster.
Instead, it was the lack of communication between United Water Toms River and township officials. The resulting ire was expressed by Chairwoman Linda Gillick and other officials at the citizens committee meeting Monday night.
"I think you owe an explanation to everyone in this town, especially this committee," Gillick said to several United Water officials who attended the meeting. "We have been assured that we would be able to get in touch with you."
However, Gillick said, United officials were not reachable on the evening of May 29, Memorial Day, when water pressure in northern Dover and sections off Hooper Avenue dropped precipitously, leading the township to activate its emergency management plan.
Township officials — including Police Chief Michael G. Mastronardy and Township Council members Gregory P. McGuckin, Brian Kubiel and Maurice B. "Mo" Hill Jr. — have said they repeatedly attempted to reach the utility's general manager, Nadine Leslie, to no avail.
Calls to the water company's downtown office were also futile, the officials have said, leaving police, firefighters and council members in the dark as to why water pressure was so low and how long the pressure problems would last.
Water company officials have blamed the low pressure on high demand over a sultry Memorial Day weekend coupled with a faulty computer monitoring system that indicated a well was pumping water into the system when it actually was off-line. A storage tank at routes 9 and 70 was empty on May 29, while another one at Indian Hill Road had only about two feet of water, leading to the pressure drop.
"I can't give you all the details as to what happened that night," said Jim Glozzy, vice president of operations and general manager of United Water's New Jersey division. "There were some problems with the phone service."
Glozzy and Leslie also said that the water company's list of emergency contacts was outdated and had not been updated recently.
"Again, that may have been what happened, but it is unacceptable," Gillick said. "I don't know what you have to do to change this, but I am very disappointed with what I have seen."
Councilman Hill said he first learned of the water pressure problems when residents of Ward 3, which he represents, started calling him to complain they had no water. Ward 3 includes northwestern Dover areas such as Pleasant Plains.
"You're providing a service," Hill said. "You have to be responsive to your consumers and your customers."
Dispute goes to court
The day's problems led the township to file a lawsuit against the water company on June 2. Dover is asking Superior Court Judge Vincent J. Grasso to appoint an independent authority, or receiver, to run the day-to-day operations of the water company until Dover's petition with the state Board of Public Utilities is decided. The township has asked the BPU to revoke United Water's franchise to operate here. That petition was filed in early March.
Grasso was scheduled to hear arguments in the matter at 11 a.m. today.
Camelot Drive resident Carol A. Benson said she no longer trusts anything water company officials say.
"The water company you represent has not been very honest with our township," Benson said to Glozzy. "For you to stand here and expect me to believe what you're saying is unacceptable."
Published in the Asbury Park Press 06/13/06
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