Former West Cape Mayor Suspects Illegal Water Hook Ups

WEST CAPE MAY — Former Mayor Robert Jackson has a theory why the borough is losing up to 45 percent of the water it purchases from the City of Cape May:un-metered, illegal connections to the system.
Jackson, who served as mayor from 2000-2004 and spent most of his life in West Cape May, said during his term when the borough excavated Broadway near Wilbraham Park, they found a water line running down Sees Alley feeding one house on Second Avenue and then branching off to a neighbor’s house. Neither connection had a meter on it, he said.
Both homeowners had political ties to the borough, he said.
“I bet you there are other people who are getting free water that were connected somehow politically,” said Jackson.
He said the former borough public works director found un-metered homes. Jackson said he isn’t sure if those homes have ever been forced to make a legal water connection.
He theorized there are homes that are turned on to water service for the summer that have a “ghost line,” that goes somewhere else. He said some of the “ghost lines” could be sheared off and leaking water in the summer.
Jackson noted unaccounted for water greatly increased in summer. When water mains were replaced on York and Pearl avenues, the borough found lines running through backyards providing water to houses one street away.
Jackson said some of the illegal hook ups may have been done 30 years ago.
Many water mains have been replaced in the borough since 2000. Jackson theorized some of the “ghost lines” may have been severed during that process and “leak like crazy,” in the summer.
“It’s hard to have a maze and know where’s the entrance and where’s the exit,” he said.
The problem may be growing as old un-metered homes that may have been connected as a political favor or for a resident that couldn’t afford to pay for water, are torn down and replaced with new summer homes that are also un-metered, he said.
Jackson suggested the borough conduct a water audit compiling a list of homes where water is turned off for the winter and do another audit when summer homes are turned back on and another reading when those homes are turned off once again.
He said summer homes that have a well for water shouldn’t have any sort of pipe coming from the curb line. Jackson suggested checking homes that claim a well as their water source for pipes in the front, back and side yards.
Jackson recommended West Cape May install its own master meters wherever water enters and leaves the borough. Water continues on to Cape May Point and a few small sections of Cape May and Lower Township on Sunset Boulevard from West Cape.