Moorestown Responds to Water Group's Call for Delay in Temporary Treatment

Moorestown, NJ -- The Moorestown Water Group continued its criticism of the township’s handling of contaminants in the water supply over the weekend, and the township responded during Monday night’s council meeting.

The water group requested a delay on the installation of carbon tanks at the North Church Street Water Treatment Plant as a temporary treatment for the presence of Trichloropropane (TCP 1, 2, 3) and Trichlorethylene (TCE) in an email to members of council and media over the weekend.

The group filed an OPRA request for communications between the township and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), and they say evidence obtained in this request “invalidates the entire pilot study.”

“Specifically, the pilot study was completed using a Surface Loading Rate that was four times slower than the rate proposed in the temporary treatment,” the group said in its email.

Evidence also indicates pumping didn’t go deep enough into the well, and NJDEP made a comment this likely caused the non-detect in Well 7 in June of last year that resulted in the township reopening the well, as well as the non-detect in Well 9 during the pilot study, the group concludes.

The contaminants are heavier than the water, and would therefore sink to the bottom of the well. If pumping doesn’t go down deep enough, the contaminants are less likely to be detected.

The group draws the conclusion that the township lied concerning the non-detect results, a conclusion Township Manager Scott Carew rebut on Monday night.

Carew started by denying that the township lied. He said the well was pumping at a normal rate and went the full depth during testing last summer.

“We told NJDEP what happened and said that the idea was to turn Well 7 back on,” Carew said.

He said NJDEP didn’t raise any concerns when informed, or during a special meeting last year when the township announced it would be turning Well 7 back on and beginning its pilot study on Well 9.

He went on to say that the township is on its seventh round of providing information to NJDEP to get approval for the temporary treatment, and that he isn’t sure why NJDEP didn’t ask for all the information up front.

NJDEP also said the study was atypical and failed to capture data most useful in designing such treatments.

“We believe the typical pilot study would have multiple columns, each with different Empty Bed Contact Times (EBCT) and different carbon types,” NJDEP said.

Utilities Engineer L. Russell Trice responded to this criticism by saying they were searching for certain things and there were reasons for the discrepancies. They were testing for sample points at various depths, which can be done accurately using one column, he said. He also said it is standard, and one way is not better than the other.

“This is not a research project,” Trice said. “ … We’re trying to get data we need to design a plant. There were reasons for the discrepancies. NJDEP didn’t understand what they were looking at.”

Moorestown Water Group Spokesperson and Democratic candidate for council Kati Angelini said she has no confidence in Trice, and finds it hard to believe NJDEP would be unable to understand his conclusions.

Other residents and members of the group expressed concern over the way the township and NJDEP have handled the situation, including, among other issues, the investigation of the source of the contaminants.

Contaminants were first identified in the township’s 2013 Water Quality Report, and no source has been identified. NJDEP is supposed to be handling the investigation, but no culprit has been identified.

Identifying the source and holding a party responsible could help the township handle the cost of correcting the problem.

Mayor Phil Garwood and Councilwoman Stacey Jordan suggested consulting the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help in this area.

“If the EPA tells DEP it has to do something, they would have to do it,” Jordan said.

“EPA has more legal power than us and I think we should see what our options are,” Garwood said.

Carew said that EPA knows what’s in Moorestown’s water, and Deputy Mayor Victoria Napolitano said she didn’t want to unnecessarily duplicate efforts.

Currently, both Well 7 and Well 9 are closed until the temporary treatment is put in place. Since that treatment doesn’t address the radiological contaminants detected in the water, the group has asked the well remain closed until the permanent treatment is put in place, and has now asked that the temporary treatment be delayed.

In the meantime, the township is getting its water from New Jersey American Water company. To get its water completely through New Jersey American would cost the township an additional $6 million over a 12-month period.

Much of Monday night’s meeting consisted of public comment on the water situation at a meeting in which there was no legislation on the issue on the agenda.

Carew said he expects the April 25 agenda to include a resolution to award a contract for the temporary treatment. Work would begin following NJDEP approval.