Water Project Approved

COURT HOUSE – Middle Township Committee adopted an ordinance June 17, which concluded the search for a source of potable water for Del Haven.
The ordinance cemented a deal with the Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority (LTMUA) to provide water to Del Haven where many of the wells are suffering the negative effects of saltwater intrusion.
The effort was about five years in the making, spanning the terms of multiple governing body members and three business administrators.
An ordinance mandating connection to the system for almost 1,000 homes will be up for adoption at the next committee meeting July 1.
The Agreement
Middle Township officials explored three options for bringing fresh water to Del Haven. Mayor Timothy Donohue explained that the arrangement with the LTMUA was the best outcome for both the township and the property owners.
The arrangement will represent a significant expense for Del Haven homeowners because the cost of the new system is spread over about 1,000 homes. The deal calls for keeping the new water service area for Del Haven completely separate from the ratepayers in Lower Township.
The construction costs of the water delivery system will be paid for through a debt service component on the quarterly bills for Del Haven ratepayers.
Donohue reminded the public the municipality is seeking grant funds which may defray some costs that otherwise pass to the ratepayer. He also emphasized the solution to the Del Haven water problem was the least expensive in the long run for those ratepayers.
The current estimates call for a $52 a quarter average water usage bill, a $99 a quarter charge for debt service over the 20 or so years of the capital bonds which will finance the effort, and a $1,600 mandatory connection fee that can be paid interest-free over a five-year period at $80 a quarter.
That means that the average quarterly water bill for a property owner in the water service area should average $230 if the homeowner takes advantage of the ability to spread the connection fee over five years. It should run $150 per quarter if the $1,600 connection fee is paid in full at the start of service.
Donohue said the total cost of the project is estimated at $10.6 million. That figure includes $6.7 million for the distribution system and $3.8 million for lateral interconnections to the system from each home.
The project will also provide increased protection against fire. Hydrants will be installed along parts of the water delivery system.
Committee member Michael Clark, a long-serving volunteer firefighter, said the presence of the hydrants should mean lower home insurance premiums for residents.
Options Considered
Donohue explained the municipality looked at the option of using its own water supplier, New Jersey-American Water, as a provider by having the company build a connection to Del Haven from its water main in Whitesboro.
Investigation showed that the distance, as well as the level of risk the company was willing to take, would have resulted in higher costs to homeowners and a required capital expenditure by the municipality.
Another avenue explored was to have the township set up its own water distribution entity, buying the water from Wildwood or New Jersey-American Water. The capital expense involved, as well as the lack of necessary expertise in the municipality, made that option unworkable.
The LTMUA option was the most attractive, according to Donohue. Proximity between the LTMUA main lines and Del Haven greatly shortened the path that new pipes would have to traverse. LTMUA agreed to finance the construction, which freed Middle Township from a capital expense that would otherwise have burdened all the township’s taxpayers.
LTMUA is regionalizing the project by negotiating its own deal with Wildwood, utilizing the high level of the Wildwood water allocation, a move which will also provide LTMUA with valuable redundancy for its own system.
This arrangement for sharing the water allocation for Wildwood, speeds the project since any effort to obtain an increase in LTMUA’s own water allocation to support Del Haven would have taken as long as two years.
The schedule for the project calls for a one-year period for financing and design, followed by a one- year period for system construction. The two-year schedule was the quickest route to flowing water among the alternatives considered, said Donohue.
Both Donohue and Clark, who served as mayor in the period between Donohue’s two times in that role, thanked many past elected officials and employees for the roles they played in bringing the deal to a conclusion.
“We have been at this a long time,” Donohue said.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.