Water Infrastructure Investment Plan. Seeking Public Comments

Attention Bob Venezia. Water Issues Public Comments Open for NJDEP Water Infrastructure Plan Open for Comments

Clean Drinking Water IUP Intended Use Plan. Who will pay. Why isn't BBB (Build Back Better including Water Infrastructure?)

Parsippany's Recent controversy of where all the water/sewer surplus disappeared, is an example of the fact that water somehow is no longer a public trust?

Only an Audit would of found the Truth, But somehow Council never allows it?! Ok; what really happened to the money alleged at one point to be "$26M" in the surplus? So where is the Transparency? WE do have such a committee.

The past issue of our water/sewer surplus trust centered in some disappearing act of the funding, and a "hold on to your wallet" scenario; instead of the actual situation facing the municipal water infrastructure itself, and the minor "municipal tax increase of necessity" due to the predicament. Sadly the issue got lost in the minor TAX increase, rather than the situation itself facing Parsippany's water infrastructure for example: as of September 2020.

Well 1A-R This will replace our oldest well with a new well in close proximity. The existing well has serious deterioration issues and a significant loss of pumping capacity. The well is currently producing zero water.

Well 21-R This will replace an existing well in close proximity. We have seen a significant loss of capacity despite recent efforts at rehabilitation. This well has lost 1 million gallons per day of production.

Well 20-R This well has been before the council in the past. It is need of treatment for contamination and the loss of capacity. The well is currently producing zero water. The site cannot accommodate treatment and has several land use issues. We are currently drilling a replacement well on a nearby green acres property and seeking state house approval.

These wells were only part of the water infrastructure predicaments along with all the broken pipes, deteriorated equipment, and other ongoing maintenance.

Councilwoman McCarthy explained the situation of using funds entrusted for water/sewage for other purposes in plain english ;apparently brushed aside because the fact of a minor "municipal tax increase" became a political campaign hype", not the actual circumstances of the infrastructure in need of attention.

Build Back Better,Hah Hah Hah

Government is intended to do for US what we can't do ourselves. Promote Prosperity, Create Harmony, Prevent Destructive Competition among various constituted groups .

We as Tax Payers must ask why if water is a public trust, life itself; why monies from the Federal Treasury are not used to subsidized water infrastructure as a duty and responsibility of government itself?

Using Local Water Sewer Surplus for, "in trust for water" infrastructure only
IT Appears in New Jersey or Towns like Parsippany water/sewer surplus monies are raided and used for other purposes such a tax patches; so local municipal taxes stay low or minimum. Find this ironic with all the corporate real estate tax ratable(s). That funds in trust for water infrastructure have to be used for such other purposes.

Build Back Better if not Water Infrastructure than what?
If water is a public trust, than any such funding held in trust such as water/sewer need be off-limits or knave proof. IF water is life, and a public trust it should be subsidized by federal tax base to alleviate tax burdens; in an already upside-down tax system; of evasions and loopholes. Does Build Back Better ring-a-bell? If simply taking care of basic infrastructure is somehow a big deal in modern politics, that is shameful.

Mr Venezia's Water Questions to Council; Some Answers

NJDEP Water Allocation: In the case of Par-Troy, it is a buried valley aquifer with heavy drawdown, during summer months and limited rate of recharge to the aquifer. If you reference the deficit/surplus table you will notice that the system has contracts to purchase water from JCMUA & MCMUA. Without these contracts in place, Par-Troy would have a shortfall in available water.

*In 2014 Parsippany was paying $270K annually for the required water from JCMUA, owned by private corporate sources, it will surely increase.

Remember Parsippany has the highest water deficit in the Highlands due to depletion, consumption, and lack of adequate recharge, due to over-development and abundant impervious surface. Parsippany has Not Done a good job in the past protecting it's ground water recharge areas.

When Council President dePierro states "we are being forced to buy water from JCMUA"

Being "forced" to purchase water is a result of not being able to meet requirements for adequate water supply (not necessarily the amount of water in the aquifer) but it is done under the Safe Drinking Water Act Rules (NJAC 7:10). It would appear a pro development elected official would maintain that there is plenty of water. Apparently Parsippany had to do this because it was either in deficit or couldn't guarantee peak flows. (If obeying the law and the rules under which it administered is being "forced", what do we have laws for? Are you not "forced" to stop at a red traffic light. As long as Parsippany has a pro-developer tax-ratable solution to all its problems then; well this is the results of the dilemma of what corporate real estate left idle and empty is going to inflict on us here in Parsippany )

Not a Rain Tax . Learn to Learn

Parsippany Council feels the same way about the Stormwater Utility Tax; which they call "rain tax". It is not a rain tax, it's a stormwater runoff tax where the funding goes back into a fund for Green Infrastructure. The tax only effects large corporate impervious surfaces that in turn degrade our common water bodies and open spaces. Although there was an educational session offered 2-years ago to the public on this issue no present council member attended.

It is important to note that according to the Highlands data, most of Par-Troy is in a water deficit area. The deficit is somewhere between 1 and 7.11 million gallons per day. This is the most stressed category of water deficit in the Highlands. Part of the problem here is that the groundwater is withdrawn and then conveyed to the downstream sewer treatment plant where it flows down the Rockaway and is no longer available to recharge the aquifer. This is what is called water mining.

All the public supply wells in the area are part of the "buried valley aquifer". Water storage and movement is not the same everywhere in the aquifer. This is a former valley that was filled with sand, gravel and finer material during glacial retreat in the last ice age. Beneath it is massive bedrock that contains little water. Drilling beyond the aquifer's bottom into this rock will not produce water but water from above can be stored in the bore. In some cases the failed well can be deepened and the pump reset to a lower elevation. This may address the current supply issue but will only further deplete the aquifer. Drilling new wells may address the supply issue for the utility but will not help, and may harm, a stressed aquifer. In serious cases of overdraft, there can be groundsubsidance and the pore spaces in the aquifer material can close, reducing or eliminating the aquifer's ability to store and transmit water.

Obviously, like a checkbook, when the balance gets low you need to stop writing checks so water conservation, reducing allocations and substituting water from another source are typical management strategies. Maintaining groundwater recharge or increasing groundwater recharge are also used but take longer to work. Some parts of NJ have been declared Groundwater Critical Areas by the DEP and managed along these lines. In one case there has been a measurable increase in aquifer level.

Utility Capacity: According to the Highlands Council's Technical Report on Utility Capacity, Par-Troy's water system has an available supply of 343.86 million gallons per month (11.46 MGD), Its demand (2004) was 296.477 MGM (9.88 MGD) and its available capacity was 47.383 MGM or (1.58 MGD). this translates roughly to a residential population of about 15,000. None of this applies if the overall aquifer is being depleted by pumping at a rate greater than recharge, depletion of recharge by developing impervious cover, soil compaction, and forest removal.

Good Land Use and Water Good Water can not be separated and should not be left to Politicians, Developers and Corporate Real Estate Barons. Then we wind up with water issues and degradations due to over-development, and taking of sensitive landscapes which then injure the ground water recharge phenomena ; cause well contamination, and inflict further costs on local tax payers for things they are not responsible for. Once one realizes economy is ecology, then the fiascos of uncaring for profit forces of private interest become apparent; (so only voting may prevent this? Why not good government before it all gets too out of control?

You Give Love You Get Love..You Pay Taxes You Get something of necessity or actual need, in return; that is a basic passive right of citizenship; somehow it's not working out that way for most people in the economy to nowhere;the economy that kills the host aka "we the people"