More of Villas May Get Water Mains

VILLAS — Water mains may be coming quicker to streets without municipal water service in this community sooner than expected.
At a Wed., Nov. 2 Lower Township Municipal Utilities Board of Commissioners meeting, MUA Executive Director Matthew Ecker said while the authority is awaiting a water allocation permit which will provide water for Town Bank and Villas, it is trying to maintain revenue in its capital fund.
“The thought is if we can maintain our capital and still make all our debt permits, we’ll use that money and we’ll do the water mains in the Villas with our own staff,” he said.
Ecker said one of his goals was met when the ribbon was cut on the solar energy array that provides 100 percent of power to the sewer plant.
“I want us to have 100 percent meters installed that can be read electronically and I want to have 100 percent water main install in the entire system,” he said. “If I can do all that before I’m asking for my next reappointment, then that will be a good goal.”
Ecker’s reappointment date is March 31, 2016.
Final paving has been taking place on Breakwater Road for Phase One, topping trenches that were rough. Bayshore Road will also receive paving where water mains were installed in the travel lanes, said Ecker.
Money is leftover in the Town Bank-Villas Phase One contract, which may allow additional work, he said.
Ecker said repaving would cover only county roads in the travel lanes since work done in shoulder areas is doing well, avoiding extra expense. He said Clubhouse Drive and Wildwood Avenue would be deferred until after homes are connected to the water mains in the street, which will require excavation.
Construction of a well house will begin at the MUA’s new water source, Well Eight.
Ecker said the MUA was advertising for bids for Phase Two of the Town Bank/Villas water project with bids scheduled to be opened in December.
Much of MUA’s progress on Phase Two is dependent upon receiving a water allocation permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The permit was expected by Oct. 31 but has not been received.
Ecker said the allocation was applied for in August and DEP has 45 days to review the application.
“I’ve been in touch with them, they’ve indicated by the end of the month we’ll have our approval,” he said.
Ecker said U.S.D.A, which is financing much of the project, is aware of the need for a water allocation permit. The MUA has followed guideline set by DEP by not eliminating an additional water allocation at the county airport and provide a new well at the same location.
Both MUA staff and ETS Services, which has taken over monthly billing and some meter reading, has been installing a new generation of electronic water meters with radio systems that can be read by a laptop computer in a vehicle driving past the house.
The data is loaded into billing software and bills are generated.
Ecker said the authority had about 1,400 meter that had “dying batteries.” He said about 300 new meters have been installed with another 300 were expected to be in place by the end of the year.