Borough Water to Flow Into More Hopatcong Homes

For the past several years, the 18 homeowners part of the Arthur Well Association have been warned by the State Department of Environmental Protection to upgrade their water system to comply with its latest standards, or they would be faced with summonses.

And on Tuesday night, those Hopatcong residents who have been using the privately-owned well found out that they will no longer have to worry about any fines they have been threatened with.

In a meeting between Mayor Sylvia Petillo, borough engineer John Ruschke and residents from the association, homeowners voted unanimously to be connected to the municipality's water, a solution the borough offered to save the homeowners money.

"The DEP is making them upgrade one way or another," borough attorney John Ursin said earlier this month. "It's much more cost effective for them to join our system than try to do the upgrades alone for 18 houses."

Ursin said that the DEP regulations for private wells have become much more strict over the years as it has gotten more expensive to produce and treat water.

The DEP told those residents in the Heights that the well violated a number of regulations, including not having a backup source, emergency generator or adequate water storage in the system, and having undersized water mains, according to Ruschke.

According to Ruschke, residents said Tuesday night they came up with $120,000 for the upgrades, just short of about $40,000 for the total cost.

Petillo mentioned that because the utilities are not done through tax dollars and are paid for by user fees, the residents have to pay the connection fee for the infrastructure.

Ruschke said the borough's goal is to have the residents connected to its water by December.

But before the homes can connect, a number of replacements and infrastructure upgrades must take place.

The major replacement is the 2-inch water mains that Arthur Well residents have been using to supply the water.

"The pipes probably were installed when the houses were built, so they're probably 40-plus years old," Ruschke said. "They are old and deteriorating."

Ruschke said the borough will connect the homes to 6-inch pipes instead, which is the current standard and what the municipality is using.

Each of the houses will also have to have a meter installed, Ruschke said, which will be done by a local plumber and is usually at a low cost.