Residents and businesses in the 36 towns served by the Middlesex County Utilities Authority’s (MCUA) wastewater treatment system were advised Nov. 6 to further minimize water use to reduce stress on the storm-damaged sewage treatment system and help limit polluting effluent now flowing into the Raritan River and Raritan Bay.
The MCUA serves 797,000 customers in Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties.
“While the governor already has issued an executive order calling for mandatory water use restrictions, we are asking MCUA customers to be extra diligent in conserving water to slow the flow of effluents into the river and bay, and limit environmental impacts” said state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin.
The MCUA’s treatment plant is fully operational but two of its three pump stations, which normally handle 110 million gallons of wastewater daily, are not working, so wastewater is not being shipped to the treatment facility. The result is the discharge of untreated sewage into the waterways.
About 10 million gallons a day is being processed through the MCUA’s South Amboy pump station. It is anticipated that the Edison pump station, which processes about 20 million gallons a day, will be on line later this week.
The MCUA’s main pump station, the Sayreville station, is currently off line but has a temporary bypass pump system in place to handle about 20 million gallons a day. It normally processes 75 million gallons daily. All electrical equipment at the Sayreville facility, including pumps, motors and electric controls, are being disassembled, dried, tested and reassembled.
The following towns are served by the MCUA: Bound Brook, Bridgewater, Carteret, Cranbury, Dunellen, East Brunswick, Edison, Fanwood, Franklin Township, Green Brook, Helmetta, Highland Park, Jamesburg, Metuchen, Middlesex Borough, Milltown, Monroe Township, New Brunswick, North Brunswick, North Plainfield, Old Bridge, Perth Amboy, Piscataway, Plainfield, Sayreville, Scotch Plains, South Amboy, South Bound Brook, South Brunswick, South Plainfield, South River, Spotswood, Warren Township, Watchung and Woodbridge.