MONROE — If all goes as planned, rusty water in the southwestern section of the township will be a thing of the past.
The Township Council adopted a $9 million bond ordinance at its May 2 meeting to fund the construction of two new water treatment plants. The plants are needed for well 23 on Cranbury Station Road and well 20 on Union Valley Road, said township Water Utility Director Michael Rogers.
“We’ve got two wells out of six wells that are high in iron,” Rogers said Monday. “When it’s really bad, it’s brown. When it’s not bad, it’s like a light green. If you run a full tap, it has a green tint.”
The water in the two wells — which are usually only used during the summer — meets all drinking water quality standards, he said.
“When we get to the summer and we have to use those wells, that’s when we start getting dirty water complaints,” Rogers said. “We don’t need all of our wells all of the time. The demand over the course of the year changes dramatically. We might be using one or two during the winter, but we use four or five during the summer.”
Demand is down during the winter, in part because of “snowbirds” or residents who move to warmer climates for the winter months, he said.
But people irrigate their lawns “like crazy” in the summer, Rogers said.
The utility department serves water to between 16,000 and 17,000 homes, he said.
Iron that settles in the pipes is the culprit for the rust-colored water, Rogers said. Complaints began trickling in about three years ago and have increased steadily, he said.
“This past year it’s been much, much worse,” Rogers said.
He said he hopes to have the designs and permits for the two buildings in hand by the end of the year.
“It will probably take a good year to build them,” he said. “The sooner, the better. It’s all for the customers. The reason you do this is customer satisfaction. You can’t be selling them water that has problems.”
The new treatment plants will probably last 30 years, said township Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton.
The bonds will be for 30 years, he said.
“The complaints have been getting more and more frequent of late,” Hamilton said. “Those are the kind of improvements you don’t have a choice with in order to maintain quality water in town.”