PETERSBURG – Residents of Beesley’s Point came out to the Upper Township Committee meeting Tuesday, Oct. 15, to hear more about mercury contamination in 11 wells in the Bayaire Road/Homestead Court area.
Resident Steve Murphy said he was concerned and angered by what he considered to be the slow rate of response considering the dangers of mercury contamination.
“(The state Department of Environmental Protection) won’t test until Nov. 13. What is taking so long?” Murphy asked.
He said he received a letter from the DEP saying “do what you think is best,” such as hiring a private company to do water testing, or relocating.
Township Business Administrator Gary DeMarzo said he would be encouraging the DEP to move more quickly in testing and identifying affected wells. He urged residents to email him, and they would be included on an email blast sent to the DEP.
DEP representatives met with county and township officials on Thursday, Oct. 10, to discuss the matter and the “next steps for residents whose private wells are impacted” by mercury at unsafe levels for drinking or bathing, DEP press officer Caryn Shinske said.
Shinske said the county Health Department had sampled 10 other wells in the vicinity of the wells with elevated levels of mercury and found no mercury.
She said that residents at the 11 affected properties, between Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway, were notified by the Health Department at the request of the DEP and state Department of Health that they have the option to temporarily relocate, with costs covered by the state’s Spill Fund.
The Spill Fund, as defined on the DEP website, “provides critical environmental relief to citizens, businesses, and other entities within the state and is unique to New Jersey. Funding for this program is obtained from a tax levied on the petroleum and chemical industries by the State of New Jersey.”
“The DEP has also begun contacting residents at those 11 properties to arrange for installation of a point-of-entry treatment, or POET, system for their wells, at no cost to the homeowner,” Shinske said.
DeMarzo said the DEP had authorized the installation of two types of filters at the properties identified.
He said residents who spend any money, including for buying drinking water, should save their receipts and they would be reimbursed. Murphy said a local company told him they could be out of water the next morning.
Shinske said the DEP would be taking additional samples from the 11 affected wells to confirm the results of samples already taken and, in early November, would sample additional residential wells, to determine if any have been impacted above the 2 parts per billion standard for mercury. She said the agency would continue working to identify the source of the contamination.
Asked about that, Mayor Jay Newman repeated an earlier statement that there was no source identified and there would be “no finger pointed” at a particular source.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
