No New Jersey Water for Rockland During Drought: NJ Environmental Officials

A week after the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, the agency that operates the Wanaque Reservoir, said that it would consider selling "extra" water to Suez for use in Rockland County, opposition in the Garden State continues to swell.

Suez has repeatedly included the option as one of many in its submissions to the New York State Public Service Commission, starting with its Feasibility Report of June 2015. The New York Public Service Commission has given Rockland County communities and SUEZ 10 years to aggressively pursue water conservation measures and make plans for meeting service area needs for the mid- and long-term.

NewJersey.com reported Nov. 15 that water sales were a possibility and that the NJDWSC said it would only sell water not currently dedicated to its customers; plus that the revenue would help keep their water rates from rising.

“We have 6 million extra gallons a day, and we’d be willing to sell that water to whatever party is appropriate,” William Maer, a spokesman for the commission, told NewJersey.com. “It would be a potential extra source of revenue, but it’s a hypothetical discussion right now.”

The next day, the New Jersey Sierra Club came out against the idea of selling water to SUEZ.

Also Nov. 16, New Jersey DEP spokesman Bob Considine said that the agency had not seen a proposal from either the water company or the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission.

"For any proposed exportation of water outside New Jersey, the DEP would first need to ensure that the participating systems have sufficient capacity and infrastructure in place and that the exportation would not impair service to their normal customers, both routinely and in an emergency," he said. "But during the time of a drought warning, if something did come to us now for an immediate either a purchase of water or one in the near future, it would not be something we would consider."

The Sierra Club insisted the refusal should be permanent.

“It is good that DEP has come out against the plan to sell New Jersey’s water during a drought, but they should never consider it at all. This proposal is a bad policy even if we are in a drought or not," said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, in a press release Nov. 21. "DEP should never sell our water to New York because the people of New Jersey has paid for these reservoirs. If they do this, New York will use it for development and as a result we will experience the pollution and stormwater runoff."