Walking Path At Brick Reservoir Will Stay Shut For Now: MUA

BRICK, NJ — As parks and playgrounds have reopened for recreation during the coronavirus pandemic, there's been one site that people have been waiting to see reopened: the walking path at the Brick reservoir.

The 1.6-mile path around the top of the reservoir, which stores drinking water for residents of Brick Township and also supplies some in Lakewood and Howell, has been closed since March, when recreation facilites and parks were shut down to enforce social distancing.

Activities have since resumed at parks across the state. But more than six months later, the reservoir remains off-limits.

And it will continue to remain closed to recreation for the foreseeable future, said Chris Theodos, executive director of the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority, which operates the reservoir and is separate from the township's government.

"We are primarily a secure water reservoir and a source for safe drinking water," Theodos said in an email to Patch last week. "While we do offer some 'park-like' activities, we are not a traditional park."

"Our employees, the citizens who use the park and our potable water supply, demand added protections not necessarily required of traditional parks," he said.

The Brick MUA does not have a way to ensure people will not congregate in larger groups than advised or practice safe social distancing measures while walking around the reservoir, he said.

"We cannot control sanitizing of common areas such as restrooms, hand rails, port-a-johns, benches, gazebos, trash/recycling cans, etc. When the reservoir is open to the public, staffing by Brick Utilities must be provided and we must safeguard our employees from the general public," he said.

With the recent spike in cases in Ocean County — there have been more than 1,200 new positives in the county since Sept. 10, rising from 11,542 to 12,825 as of Saturday, according to the Ocean County Health Department — Theodos said the Brick MUA is acting on advice it has received to keep the reservoir recreation shut down.

"In conjunction with safe distancing guidance from federal and state agencies, and with an abundance of concern for the population we service, this closure will remain for the time being," he said. "Our health and that of our customers is our only concern. We will continually review the situation and be guided by our commitment to do what is best for all concerned."

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