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BUTLER - Rusty water angers Lafayette Ave resident
(by Stephen Janoski - Staff Writer - August 27, 2008)
BUTLER - Resident Ray Ricker angrily approached the Borough Council at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 19 with a bucket of water in hand and discolored white laundry as proof of his ongoing problem with rusty municipal water.
The Lafayette Avenue resident said that he has been complaining for nearly two years about the problem, which persists even though the borough has made multiple attempts to remedy the situation. Two of Ricker’s neighbors sat in the audience and said that their water quality was also poor.
Lafayette Avenue has long had problems with water pressure and quality. The council acknowledged that at times, there was no water pressure in the houses at all. In an attempt to fix this, the borough linked Lafayette’s pipes to a large valve in a pit on Route 23 to provide more pressure.
The move, however, had unintended consequences. The valve, which was designed for usage in fire-fighting situations, cannot detect small variations in flow. This means that when water pressure hits its lowest limit, the valve opens, causing unexpected surges in water pressure.
“It’s not looking for 2-pound changes in pressure,” said Borough Administrator Jim Lampmann. “Because it was intended for fire fighting use, it’s looking for 15-pound windows.”
Lampmann went on to say that water from the Route 23 valve tends to sit for long periods until demand is high enough, causing the water to take on rusty qualities. Because of increased demand on Butler’s water infrastructure, that water is being released more often, exacerbating the problem.
The answer was not enough to placate Ricker.
“I’m paying for water, but we can’t drink the stuff. When my wife does laundry, many times she has to hand wash the clothes with bottled water after using the washing machine. I’m paying for water, and also buying bottled water. This is ridiculous. Something has to change,” he said.
Ricker brought with him a bucket of discolored water as an example, as well as a small, white bathroom carpet that showed significant discoloration as a result of being washed with the borough’s water.
Lampmann said that Borough Engineer Paul Darmofalski has been working on a way to correct the problem.
“There’s no easy solution to this,” said Lampmann. “Some of these pipes are over 100 years old. The solution is about $3 million in new pipe. That’s not going to happen overnight.”
“I don’t know what else I can do. The solution is new pipe, and that isn’t going to happen now. There’s brand new pipe on Lafayette, but the water is coming from too long of a distance through century-old pipe.”
Ricker suggested putting a filter on the lateral running into his house.
“Put it on my house. I’ll volunteer for it, and we’ll see if it works,” he said.
Later in the meeting, Councilman Roger Elliot again mentioned the need to address the problem, saying that the council needed to “get on this issue.”
Council President Stephen Regis agreed that the problem was an urgent one, and because a long-term project remains far away, suggested that the council look into placing a filter on Ricker’s house as a short-term fix.
“An old town with an old infrastructure”
Mayor Joseph Heywang was clearly disturbed by the problem, and later commented on the issues.
“In the winter months, there isn’t as much of a demand. However, in the summer, people are watering their lawns and doing other things, and demand goes up. Peak hours are in the morning when people are showering, shaving, and getting ready for work,” said Heywang.
A downed well that supplies the Fayson Lakes community in Kinnelon is also contributing to the over-extension.
“We’re selling bulk water to them because they need water, too. But it happened at the same time as the demand in Butler rose because of the season,” said Heywang.
The massive increase in demand causes the valve on Route 23 to open more frequently, flushing more and more “less than clear” water into the pipes on Lafayette Avenue.
Heywang was upset about the lack of attention that’s been paid to the infrastructure of the town over the years.
“You have to continually pay attention, and not just when something goes wrong,” he said.
Heywang said that the borough plans to follow up with the filter plan for Ricker’s home. Research will be done into what type of filter is needed for the job, as well as costs for installation and maintenance.
“It’s going to take a couple weeks, but I’m sure Jim Lampmann has already been on it. This will be at the cost of the borough, as well as the maintenance. We’re trying to do the whole thing,” said Heywang.
Mayor Heywang went on to explain why water flow problems are so prevalent in Butler.
“Butler is an old town with an old infrastructure. We’re also on a steep piece of geography, and that leads to a lot of problems. We’re in the foothills of the Appalachians.”
“We’ve gotten a part of the Community Development Block Grant from Morris County, and we’re going to try to use that to fix some of the problems in the downtown area near the police headquarters. There’s pipes that need attention that run from the station to Bartholdi Avenue,” he said.
Heywang also said that the borough was attempting to get an easement that would allow it to place pipes through the driveway of the Lakeland Bank up to Carey Avenue.
“This won’t solve the problems in that area, but it’s a start,” he said, adding that the time frames for that project depend on how well negotiations go with the bank.
Heywang pointed to another line that the borough must put in along on Cascade Way on Route 23 heading up to Boonton Avenue.
“That’s another million dollar project. They are old, they need to be replaced, but we just can’t do it overnight. We need a lot of money for it. Butler is an old town, and so we’re the ones that have these infrastructure issues. These problems need attention regularly, and not just when a problem occurs. They have to be planned for and budgeted for,” Heywang said.
| Comments (1) |
On September 14, 2008 Susan said:
I live on Holly Court by Terrace Lake in Butler. At the time I came across this article, I was literally tossing aside a (used to be)white shirt that had just come out of my wash. All of my white clothes have been destroyed from the same problem. We even had to lay out monay to replace a brand new water heater thinking it could be from that.
When I shop for clothes for my kids, I find myself avoiding buying anything white. It's an outrage. |
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