CAPE MAY – Cape May has been buying water from Lower Township due to a recent pump failure. City Manager Neil Young said the repairs would be done quickly, returning the city’s water supply.
The incident was discussed at the Aug. 20 Cape May City Council meeting, which prompted one resident, Jules Rauch, to ask about the eventual need for reinvestment in the city’s desalination plant.
The plant came online in 1998. The first plant of its kind in New Jersey, it provides two-thirds of the potable water for the communities of Cape May, West Cape May, and Cape May Point. Since its inception, the city has added to the supply wells that feed the plant.
Rauch’s questions: where is the capital plan for reinvestment in the plant, and how does the plan get prioritized with other claims on capital funding?
The city’s ongoing discussions regarding a Public Safety Building and the potential use of the Franklin Street School as a county library branch have brought several citizens to meetings asking for a long-range plan for capital investment, and its impact on the local tax rate.
