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(Continued from Page 15)

Hornickel retorted the homeowner would pay more than that to replace her well in the event it fails.

Maddalena, who noted she observed a water main being installed in front of her home but didn’t understand what was being done until she read the Pine Barrens Tribune, pointed out that such a cost “doesn’t make me feel really good” as a retiree and that the ramifications of all of this “is beginning to make me very nervous.”

In declaring that “$10,000 is a pretty good chunk of change,” Tompkins noted that he was a military retiree living off his retirement and that he is one of the residents who would need to take out a loan to pay for such a project.

“And I don’t like to have do that when I have good, potable water in my house right now,” Tompkins contended.

Hornickel, during his presentation, maintained that what had been proposed was both “fair and sensible.” The connection fee Pemberton currently charges, he said, has not been changed in years and is lower compared to what other municipalities charge their water customers.

“We are not coming to council and saying that we want to compel people to connect, but also want to raise the fees on them,” the business administrator maintained.

But further driving the point home that it wasn’t just the connection fee that was of concern to the residents, but the costs involved to make connection, as well as quality standards, was when resident Cindy Boggess described to council that she had her well drilled to a depth of 400 feet and “paid a very large sum of money to have the well drilled that way” so that she would tap right into the aquafer.

“I had that system put in that way to specifically make sure I safeguarded my family,” she maintained. “And I saved to do this. … I do not think it is fair to force us to tap into your program when I already put out all the money. I already did what I had to do, did all the planning and came up with the cash. I did it already! I can’t come up with more money to do it again!”

Boggess noted that her husband is disabled, she is getting ready to retire and that her well driller, J W Jenkins & Sons Well, of Pemberton, “swore it would last forever.”

“And I believe the man!” she declared.

Boggess pressed officials to detail how deep the municipal water system’s wells are underground, with Hornickel replying, “some are over 100 feet, some over 200 feet” and that he thought “we have at least a few that are 250 to 270 feet” deep, while Patriarca later said a few might be “250 to 300 feet – tops” underground.

“My well is 400 feet deep!” Boggess retorted. “The chances of my water being bad is really slim to none, because I am tapped into the aquafer! If my water is bad, you all’s water is bad! … I don’t see how your ‘100-foot, 200 foot – tops’ is better than my 400-foot well!”

Maddalena pointed to past published news reports that there is contamination emanating from nearby Joint Base McGuireDix-Lakehurst, and asked, “How do we know those (township) wells aren’t contaminated?”

Tompkins pointed out that “his water is never brown,” but yet he has seen a number of Pemberton water utility customers complain on social media that their water is “brown” or that they have low water pressure or no water at all at times.

“The only times I have really experienced that my whole life was when I was overseas in some third world country,” Tompkins asserted. “But we are experiencing that right here in Pemberton. And you want me to connect to your water when I have good water in my house already? I am sorry, I just don’t see it!”

Hornickel, in response, contended that Pemberton “does not use surface water” but rather “wells.” He maintained that the township knows its water is not contaminated “because we do regular testing – monthly testing – and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) sets the parameters.”

“And we are in compliance,” the Pemberton business administrator added.

Patriarca, in further addressing the water quality concerns, contended that “generally, our water is fine” and that “our wells provide some of the best water here in the county, and I drink water all over the county.”

“Every now and then we will have a hiccup like in any water system,” he added. “The brown water generally comes about when we are flushing lines. We flush our lines regularly. In fact, we are in the process of doing it now. It won’t be brown for long.”

Causing the brown discoloration of the water, Patriarca said, is that the municipality, by flushing the lines, is “disturbing the insides of these pipes” and that they are “old pipes.”

“We are in the process of replacing them daily,” he said. “Our Public Works guys are replacing water mains to put plastic lines in and to get rid of old iron pipes that we have had in town for decades, which create that color. It is not coming out of the wells that way.”

The mayor claimed that “the deeper the well is” doesn’t necessarily equate to “giving you better water,” but rather it is also about the aquafer that the well taps into. The township generally uses, he added, the Kirkwood Clancy, Englishtown or Mount Laurel wells.

“Our water coming out of the tap is generally good, clean water that you can drink and feel comfortable about, knowing it is safe to drink, and when it is not, we have to address that – it is a NJDEP requirement to make sure we meet their standards,” Patriarca said. “And we are diligent in doing so.”

The Pemberton mayor, in an effort to suggest that the municipality does monitor and invest into its water utility, pointed out that at one time a township well serving the Browns Mills area was shut down for a time to allow for the treatment of radium.

Patriarca, however, contended that he does think what is being proposed “needs to be thought through a little differently,” in recognizing “there has been some good points brought up here.”

“I agree; it is going to be very expensive in order to make residents hook up, and force residents to do this,” the Pemberton mayor acknowledged, also recognizing that such a requirement would hurt the finances of two area well drilling businesses. “But I don’t know that there are any other towns that don’t do this (make it a requirement to connect), that have water systems.”

Patriarca then contended that he had “some discussions” with “folks” prior to the council meeting to “wait until someone’s well fails” to make it a requirement to connect to the municipal water system.

Tompkins noted that “his lawyer friend” maintained that is actually what is required by law, lending credence to Callahan’s assertion to this newspaper.

“I have a well – a good well – and Jenkins drilled my well for $10,000,” the Pemberton mayor pointed out, “I have no problem with it. But I also had some other wells when I lived in Browns Mills that failed and had to get new wells drilled. So, maybe it is reasonable to consider allowing folks to have a functioning water system of their own, to maintain them – maybe that is the softer approach – to wait until they fail and then subsequently have them hook into township’s system.”

The mayor added that “maybe we need to relook at this ordinance to soften it up so that it does become more reasonable for individuals who have working wells, such as myself who don’t want a waterline coming by my house, where then I have to hook up.”

“I prefer not (to be compelled to connect),” the mayor declared. “I’d love to see sewer, but I really don’t want water right now.”

In further diverging from Hornickel, the mayor declared that officials are “just trying to find a way” to “compel people to connect,” and “not because of revenue, but because of the infrastructure we have there,” adding that he would also “be up there at the microphone doing the same thing” as the residents complaining because “I don’t want it right now” either because “my well is good.”

“But when my well goes, I think it is reasonable for the town to say you have to hook up to my water,” Patriarca asserted.

Hornickel, who later retorted, a connection can’t only be required “when a well fails,” during his presentation, in explaining the intent behind the proposed requirement, noted that “we have several water towers that need to be rehabilitated” and that the “cost of financing the maintenance on our water towers should have been spread over” a period of time.

P.O. Box311 Medford, N.J.08055

RobertH.Griscom FullyInsured NJTC768766

(609) 654-6602

NJ Lic. 13VH06395500

Keith Abrams

Lic# 1283