West Cape May Comparing Water In to Sewage Out

WEST CAPE MAY — The borough is seeking additional records from the City of Cape May to determine if water purchased from the city matches outflow of sewage to the county Municipal Utilities Authority to try to discover the cause of millions of gallons of missing water.
Mayor Pamela Kaithern read a statement at a Wed. July 28 Borough Commission meeting.
The borough met with representatives of the City of Cape May last month and at this time continues to wait for information from the city on water billings. She said West Cape May was particularly interested in the flow records before and after 2002-2003.
Kaithern said once West Cape May receives that information, they should be able to narrow the list of potential causes and the discrepancy between Cape May’s water billings and West Cape May’s.
Andrew Kricun of Eden Water Recovery, a firm hired by the borough to discover the cause of 121 million gallons of water missing from 2003 to 2009 valued at $695,000 , spoke with Cape May City Manager Bruce MacLeod and was assured that Cape May was working to provide the requested information, said Kaithern.
“It appears that information, if does still exist, is in permanent storage due to its age,” she said.
Kaithern said Kricun will follow up that request with MacLeod in a few days.
The county Municipal Utilities Authority ( MUA) has provided requested information including several years of flow data and calibrations.
So far, Cape May’s water billings for water sold to West Cape May closely match the sewer billings from the MUA of water leaving the borough, said Kaithern, however neither match West Cape May’s internal billing data, she said.
Once the flow records come from Cape May, Kricun will compare it to data from the county MUA for the same period. If the sewage flow from West Cape May shows the same sort of dramatic increases experienced with potable water, then the borough can reliably state that the problems is not within the Cape May meter or water main system.
Conversely, if there isn’t a dramatic increase is sewage flow from West Cape May at the same time as the increase in the potable water bill from Cape May, then the borough would need to look at the Cape May meter or water loss from the Cape May water mains, said Kaithern.
“The information from Cape May should be extremely helpful in identifying the source of the problem,” she said.
West Cape May’s water distribution system has been described as “wacky.” All of the water supplied to the Borough of West Cape May must travel through water mains operated by the City of Cape May. The flow of water is measured by master meters installed on the transmission mains that lead into the Borough.
The water transmission mains within the Borough then supply water to the City of Cape May, the Borough of Cape May Point and the Township of Lower. The flow of water out of the Borough is again measured by master water meters installed on the transmission mains. The Borough is billed for the volume of water that is measured entering the Borough minus that which is measured leaving the Borough.