City Looks to Build New Well

CAPE MAY – A short City Council meeting Jan. 19 saw three related resolutions that help to move ahead the city’s new water utility project. 
The city is seeking to design and construct a new well into the Atlantic City Sands aquifer to support the future water needs of the municipality. Cape May, with the desalination plant it implemented from 1995 through 1998, also supports water needs in West Cape May and Cape May Point as well as to the Coast Guard Training Center.
The three resolutions set up the structure which will allow the city to finance the design and construction of that new well with loans from the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust and the Department of Environmental Protection.
Financing with the loans required the city to aggregate $2 million in general improvement bonds which will be divided between the trust and the state. The bonds in question were approved for various water and sewer improvements and authorized in various years dating back to 2011. The purpose of the council action was to combine them into a single issue.
When the city undertook the effort to construct the desalination plant, it faced problems as salt continued to invade its water supply. The city responded with two new wells into the Atlantic City aquifer and the plant which filters impurities, including salt, from the water supply.
Energy usage at the plant is intense and makes for a significant line item in the city’s budget. 
In addition to the technical and financial challenges, the regulatory permitting process was also a hurdle. At a recent meeting of council concerning the necessary permits needed for beach slope alteration, Mayor Edward Mahaney commented to one individual that it could be like the desalination plant, referencing the efforts necessary when the plan was contemplated.
The desalination plant was a gamble for the city. It worked in the minds of city officials. The first facility of its kind in the state, the desalination plant moved the city from a municipality facing a future of purchased water from outside its boundaries to one that exports water to other municipalities. 
The effort at the new well, discussed in a previous council meeting, is intended to help settle the city’s water sourcing for another two decades.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.