Purchase of water co. could be decided this week

MUA may seek extension if reports on pipe scaling are not conclusive

BY KATHY BARATTA and JENNIFER DOME Staff Writers

BY KATHY BARATTA and JENNIFER DOME
Staff Writers

Brick and Howell officials continue to look into reports that radium contamination has been found in pipes in homes in Howell’s Ramtown section.

Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority (BTMUA) Chairman Andrew P. Nittoso Jr. said Monday that while there’s nothing new to report from their end yet, “This week is the decision week.”

In January, the BTMUA commissioners approved a resolution for the purchase of Parkway Water Co. that gave them 60 days to either set a closing date for the sale or pull the plug on the $3.8 million deal. That 60-day period ends on Feb. 28.

On Wednesday, BTMUA officials were expected to meet with representatives of Parkway Water to determine if an extension of the “due diligence period” was needed.

The extension may be desired because a first round of testing by Howell’s independent testing agency, Brinkerhoff Associates, revealed that there appears to be a “scale” buildup in the pipes of several homes that are customers of Parkway Water. Scaling is the term used to describe the buildup of a contaminant along the inside walls of pipes through which water flows.

Higher radium levels were found in homes that had been supplied water from wells 2, 3 and 7 at Parkway Water, according to a press release from Howell officials. At the behest of Howell Mayor Joseph M. DiBella and the Howell Township Council, the Manasquan-based Brinkerhoff Associates will conduct a second round of testing. According to officials, a second round of testing is needed since varying contamination levels were detected in the homes tested in the first round.

Laura Brinkerhoff told Mayor Joseph M. DiBella and Howell Township Council members earlier this month that the second round of testing her company will perform will differ from the first round. She explained that in the first round, water was taken from a tap at the first point of entry into the home.

She said for the second round, water will be taken at the curb where the pipe from the street runs into the house and then again at the water tap inside the home that is farthest from the point of entry of water from the curb line into the home.

This would be a better indicator in determining whether the pipes in the homes are contaminating the water, Brinkerhoff said.

Nittoso said the BTMUA’s engineering and water quality departments have looked at the first round test results. BTMUA commissioners will have to make a decision by or on Feb. 28, he said. The BTMUA’s regular public meeting is scheduled for the evening of Feb. 28.

The BTMUA and the New Jersey-American Water Company have been providing Parkway Water’s Ramtown area customers with water since last summer. Two years ago the 30-year-old Parkway Water Co. disclosed that higher than acceptable levels of gross alpha radionuclides, caused by the presence of radium 226 and 228, was found in their wells.

Radium is a natural soil contaminant that can infiltrate potable water aquifers when soil beds have been disturbed through the introduction of fertilizers and lime into the soil, as well as through the movement of the soil. Radium affects the body because the body does not flush the element but instead allows the radium to be absorbed into the bones. Because the element remains in the bones, it is known to pose a particular risk to developing bones.

Parkway Water supplies water to some 1,800 customers in the Ramtown section of Howell, including the Ramtown Elementary School, the Greenville Elementary School and Howell Middle School South. Water treatment systems were installed at all three schools after the elevated levels of the radionuclides were disclosed.

The possibility of infrastructure contamination poses the biggest threat to the Ramtown homes since the pipes in the contaminated homes may have to be replaced.

The recent round of testing in Ramtown has Conifer Street resident Joe O’Brien more than a little concerned. O’Brien and his wife, Marybeth, are one of the six households that were tested for pipe scaling from radium contamination.

Noting that the elevated levels were detected in his home six months after the BTMUA began providing water, O’Brien said he wondered how long it will be before he has to “gut his house” and put in new pipes.

Referring to an assertion by Barker Hamill, director of the Bureau of Safe Drinking Water at the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and Dr. Gerald Nicholls, a scientist who directs safety, health and analytical programs for the DEP, that the water is safe to drink and that scaling does not pose a problem, O’Brien vented his frustration before the mayor and council at the Feb. 8 Howell Township Council meeting.

O’Brien’s home tested the highest of the six homes in the first round for scaling contamination. If the second round of testing upholds the findings of the first round, he will be faced with having to replace all of the copper piping in his home. O’Brien estimated that would cost tens of thousands of dollars.

He also told officials that his wife was diagnosed with a rare cancer three years ago and is convinced the contaminated water is responsible for her illness.

O’Brien said he and his wife were dismayed to find their address identified, along with the testing results, on Howell’s official Web site. According to O’Brien, the public disclosure has effectively made the value of his house “worthless.”

DiBella said he sympathized with O’Brien’s plight, but said it is necessary to publicly post all information the township receives regarding the Parkway Water situation in Ramtown.

“We make the reports available so that people can make their own decisions,” the mayor said.

Having sent the first round test results to the Monmouth County Board of Health, the state Board of Public Utilities, the DEP and the BTMUA, Howell Township officials said they’re awaiting direction from those agencies.

Reiterating his previous observation that Howell has no regulatory powers in the matter, DiBella vowed nonetheless to continue fighting to see that the appropriate state entities stay current on the testing and subsequent results.

In stating that while he does not want to see a “panic in Ramtown,” DiBella promised due diligence on the part of the governing body to keep the appropriate authorities accountable.

“This council will fight until hell freezes over and then fight on the ice,” the mayor said.