Holcombe and Case farms on Route 179 affected
By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
WEST AMWELL — Township officials are breathing easier now that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has officially and significantly limited the amount of water that can be taken from two farms for any future agricultural use.
”The township was very satisfied with the recommendations of the DEP,” said West Amwell Environmental Commission Chairwoman Catherine Urbanski. “The DEP did their homework and presented us with a very thorough analysis of both farms. They agreed that the aquifer was low-yielding, and that the impact on local wells could not be determined.”
The Holcombe and Case farms on Route 179 were purchased by the State Agricultural Development Committee in 2007 with plans to sell or auction them as preserved farms.
Last September, the SADC filed plans with the DEP’s Bureau of Water Allocation to draw up to 17.3 million gallons a month and up to 387.5 million gallons a year from proposed wells on the Case farm.
Plans also were filed to draw up to 10.1 million gallons a month and up to 60.6 million gallons a year from proposed wells on the Holcombe farm.
For several reasons, and after a letter of concern from the township, the DEP recently decided to put a cap on the amount of water that can be drawn from the wells on the two properties. The agency reduced the amount of water that can be taken from wells at either farm to no more than 3.1 million gallons a month.
In the case of the Case farm, the DEP concluded the site of the requested water diversion is located within the subwatershed of a protected Category 1 stream, the Alexauken Creek. The water diversion that was proposed would have been located about 730 feet from the nearest stream corridor.
Also, six private wells sit nearby, within 650 feet. The DEP report said no aquifer tests were performed to determine potential impact.
Water diversion at other farms in the area average 0.144 million gallons a month per acre irrigated, according to the DEP.
As with the Case farm, no aquifer tests were performed at the Holcombe farm, and it, too, sits within the Alexauken Creek subwatershed.
Also, six private wells are located within a quarter mile and several sites contaminated by road salt sit within .35 miles.

