Sinking Sand, Rubber Connectors Plaguing Mickel’s Run Sewer Lines

VILLAS — Sewer pipes from houses in the Mickel’s Run subdivision were installed on a bed of sand which is sinking and connections were made with rubber sleeves causing back ups for some residents.
Mickel’s Run Homeowners Association President Robert Rizzo approached the Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority Board of Commissioners (MUA) at an April 7 meeting asking for help with repairs of sewer lines.
He said a resident on Cormorant Way experienced a sewage back up three years ago. At that time, MUA arrived with a video camera and in the process, broke the pipe. Rizzo said MUA fixed the pipe and filled in the hole.
Three months ago, a house on Widgeon Way experienced a sewage flow problem and the MUA examined a manhole with a video camera and discovered of six pipes from homes to the manhole, five were not functioning properly.
Rizzo said the homeowner checked with NJ warranty insurance and discovered coverage for sewer pipe problems ends two years after a home is constructed. He said MUA Engineer Matt Ecker told him connections between the sewer pipes of homes and the MUA sewer line were made with a rubber sleeve, which should not have been permitted either by the Lower Township Construction Office Plumbing Inspector or MUA.
Rizzo said Ecker told him sewer lines from homes were laid on top of a sand base instead of a bed of stone, which has caused the problems in Mickel’s Run.
“Sewage cannot run uphill,” said Rizzo.
He asked if the MUA would bear some of the responsibility for repairs. Rizzo said homeowners have been “patient long enough.”
Rizzo said he did not believe all 114 homes in the subdivision would require repairs.
MUA Board of Commissioners Chairman Nels Johnson said the Mickel’s Run project was approved by the township not the MUA.
DeMarcantonio said there were a number of problems with Mickel’s Run with three developers involved of which all may have gone out of business. He said a normal installation would not have used a rubber sleeve but a hard pipe from the sewer main to the house.
The plumbing inspector inspects from the pipe from the “clean-out to the house,” he said.
“The MUA’s engineer at the time would have inspected from the main to the clean-out,” said DeMarcantonio. “It should have been hard pipe but the plumbing inspector at the time allowed them to use Firmco (rubber connectors) which he shouldn’t have and that’s the problem that you have today.”
He said repairs at some Mickel’s Run homes would require breaking up driveways and landscaping.
Johnson said the MUA did not want to be responsible for tearing up sidewalks and sprinkler systems.
MUA Board Solicitor Jeff Barnes said his understanding was the sewage problems existed on homeowner’s properties, which was out of the control of the MUA. He the MUA did work “from the curb out, not the curb in.”
“What they are asking for is for the MUA to do something it’s never done for anybody else,” said Barnes.
He asked what would happen if another development experienced the same problem.
“Where does it end?” asked Barnes. “What happens when the regular homeowner has a problem and says ‘You fixed everything in Mickel’s Run, why don’t you fix mine’?”
DeMarcantonio said the MUA would plunge sewage back ups in Mickel’s Run and check with a video camera and inform the homeowner of the problem at no cost. Beyond that, he said he did not believe the Joint Insurance Fund would approve of work being done on private property.
Johnson said Rizzo was expecting the MUA to do the work of a private contractor. He suggested Mickel’s Run homeowners meet with Lower Township Mayor Michael Beck since the township approved the installation.
Rizzo said initially Ecker told him the MUA “would take care of everything,” but later backtracked.