Moorestown Moving Forward With North Church Street Treatment, Passes Emergency Appropriations For $176,000

Moorestown, NJ -- Moorestown Council approved four pieces of legislation related to water remediation at the North Church Street treatment plant during Monday night’s meeting.

Council unanimously approved a proposed ordinance on second reading that sets aside $380,000 and allows the township to borrow $361,000 for the purchase of equipment for the North Church Street Water Treatment plant.

It also approved resolutions awarding a $318,514 contract to Eagle Construction Services for the installation of a carbon filter and radium removal system at the plant; a contract for Water Remediation Technology for the rental of a temporary radium removal system at the plant; and an emergency appropriation of $176,600 for the acquisition and installation of a temporary radionuclides removal system.

The contract with Water Remediation Technology calls for the company to provide process treatment (3 each 200gpm treatment trains), equipment and services as detailed in description, drawings and specifications and services for $363,637.

There is also a decommissioning fee of $100,300, which covers (packaging, transportation, licensed disposal and disposition paperwork.

Should the rental period exceed six months, there is an additional fee of $9,700 a month, should the township need to renew the contract.

Chief Financial Officer Tom Merchel said the township received two bids for the carbon filter installation, and Eagle was the low bidder.

“We’ve worked with Eagle many times in the past, and they installed two systems for us previously,” Merchel said. “They’ve installed carbon filters before, and they know what to expect.”

He said the emergency appropriation will be added to this year’s budget. However, the charge will be deferred until next year, when the township has more time to pay it off.

“If we paid it this year, we’d have one quarter in which we can do it,” Merchel said. “This way, we have four quarters to pay it over next year.”

The ordinance approved on Monday night follows an approval for an extended pilot study, dated July 1, 2016, the same day council accepted an Administrative Consent Order from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).

It allows for the installation of two Calgon Carbon Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) units that are about 12 feet in diameter, with a sidewall depth of 16 feet.

They will be used for the temporary removal of Trichloropropane 1,2,3 and Trichlorethylene from Well 9. Well 7 is not part of the plan, and must remain shut down.

The township initially applied to use the two filters parallel to each other, but has since amended that to use the filters in series, which allows one filter to be used to exhaustion before the other kicks in. It also allows the second to kick in in case of a malfunction in the first.

The township opted to use two filters that are 12-foot in diameter with Calgon Carbon rather than four 10-feet filters with one of the other two companies that bid on the project because it is cheaper to use two filters, according to Township Utilities Engineer L. Russell Trice.

NJDEP noted that the treatment proposed by the township has deficiencies, and that the treatment is subject to periodic testing to show its effectiveness. Those guidelines can be found here.

The issue has been in the limelight in Moorestown since the presence of TCP 1,2,3 was first addressed publicly in 2014.

Since then, the township has shut down two wells at the North Church Street Plant, reopened Well 7 while monitoring Well 9, and announced it would close Well 7 once more while enacting a temporary treatment and pursued a permanent solution.

All the while, Moorestown is purchasing water from New Jersey American Water to supplement for the closed wells.

The Moorestown Water Group has made the issue its crusade, and has brought attention to the presence of radiological contaminants in the water.

Fixing the issue is going to cost money. In addition to the aforementioned expenses, the township approved a proposed ordinance on introduction to appropriate an additional $7,175,000 for upgrades at the Kings Highway Treatment Plant Monday night, and reconstruction work is also scheduled for a third plant on Hartford Road.

Resident Kathy Sutherland accused the Moorestown Water Group of making something out of nothing for political gains Monday night.

"The Water Group will cost this township a lot of money and they aren't working with the township," Sutherland said. "Every time council has a solution, they have to worry about something else."

She also said a lot of people will be upset when they see how much the issue impacts their water bill.