Wells could be at root of Stillwater water problem

BY LAURIE GORDON
STILLWATER — Having read last week's story about the lack of water pressure and poor water quality in the Paulins Kill Lake section of Stillwater, Stillwater resident Peter Uptegrove wished to make some comments as a former member of the Board of Trustees of Stillwater Water District #I.
"This has been a problem that has been festering for years," he said.
He wanted people to realize that for people living in the Stillwater Water District #1, it should be understood that the Water District #1 is a municipality unto itself, governed by New Jersey State statutes. Just as school districts, fire districts and other such districts, local municipalities have no jurisdiction over these districts.
"So when there is a problem with the water, there is really nothing the local (Stillwater Township) municipality can do. Calling the municipality will not help. Contact the Water District or go to their monthly meetings. I was on the Board from 1982 to 1987," he said.
Delving into the history, Uptgrove said that Paulinskill Lake was made in the 1920's by building a dam on the Paulinskill river by developers with the intent to sell property to people wishing to build summer houses for lake recreation. As the area developed, water was needed to supply the summer houses. Wells were drilled and pipes were placed. Back then, there was no vision of the future needs for this summer community. As the years went by more houses were built and some of the old summer houses became year-round dwellings.
"My grandparent's house was one of those," he said. "The house was built in 1938 and they moved out of their house in Short Hills in 1958 when my grandfather retired. The water needs increased but the water infrastructure didn't keep pace with the demands. Even in 1958 Paulinskill Lake was still mostly a summer community, but that dynamic was changing."
Uptgrove explained that Paulinkill Lake was comprised of two entities. There was the Paulinskill Lake Corporation and the Paulinkill Lake Association. The corporation took care of the business aspects of the lake such as selling the real estate, maintaining the roads, the water system and such while the association was more involved with the social aspects of the lake. Sometime in the very late 60's it was decided to dissolve the corporation and much of those duties would be absorbed by the association. At that time it was decide to sell the water service, which was bought by a real estate person in Newton. At that time the water service was billed at a flat rate, which Uptgrove recalls to be about $80 yearly.
"The water service continued to deteriorate with the new owner," Uptgrove said, "He doubled the rate with the promise he would improve the system. The improvements never happened. My grandmother would run her bathtub overnight so that she might have enough water in the morning to flush her toilet. I lived in an apartment in Newton with my family at the time and would drop off bottled water to her."
"The water situation got to the point where some brave souls decided to take action," he said. "They went to local politicians, state politicians and even trips to Washington, D.C. to get the legal changes made to wrestle the water system from the private owner and also get the financing needed to fix the problem. Well, not entirely. The amount of money needed at the time (1979) was about $5 million to rebuild the entire system. Even a then rate of 5% to repay the FHA loan would have been crushing to the 350 customers of the community. So the project was scaled back, and scaled back again to try and make it a reasonable cost for the water users."
Once the project was implemented, it was under the control of the Farmers Home Administration which was to hold the loan.
"All of the job bidding and oversight was by the FHA and out of the hands of the locals. By the very early '80's the job of the initial upgrade was finished. But now we're back to the situation of the operation of the water system was relegated to part time volunteers. In January 1981 I needed a part for my water meter and had a difficult time making a connection to get the part, and I couldn't have water until I got the part. I asked why this was such a difficult situation to get a part and he said that they were very short handed and needed volunteers to help and that I should volunteer."
Uptegrove was then 32 with two children and decided it was time for him to do something for the community, so he got a petition and ran for the office on the Board of Trustees of the Stillwater Water District. There were two vacancies and he was the only name on the ballot, so he won the position.
At his first meeting, in February of 1982, Uptgrove was named Treasurer.
"I liked that as I try to be careful with my money as well as anyone else's. The first order of business was that we had a fiscal problem. We had our first loan payment due to the FHA May first and with the revenue we were generating from the water usage there would be no way to make the payment. Major problem...if we were to default on the loan the Federal Government would have the right to come to the community and just say...everybody out of the pool...'pay up now.'"
A number of meetings were held as to how to solve this. One option was that as a "Water District" they had the authority to tax which was granted by State statutes. The Board decided to place the debt service for the FHA loan on the municipal tax bill to maintain the security of the community obligation to the FHA. We would continue to bill water customers based upon their home usage. Three Board Members --James McGee (Pres), Jim Chittum (VP) and Uptegrove--spent a day with the FHA people and found a solution to the problem for the May 1 payment.
"When we had to inform the people of the district about what we had to do...it was kind of ugly, Uptgrove said, "The meeting was at the old Stillwater Annex, which had been a church at one time. The place was packed and there were people up in the balcony screaming all kinds of unpleasant things. But the unfortunate reality was this is price of what it going to take to get water to you. We are making it as inexpensive as possible. As board members we could earn $20.00 per scheduled meeting, a total of $480.00 per year. None of us board members filed for expenses."
They began to try to get some of the old receivables up to date.
"Trust me, it's not easy going to your neighbor down the street and say "pay up or we're going to have to shut off your water." That was not an easy neighborly relation, and in some cases we had to do that."
Financially things were getting more stable. Operationally things were good, but there began to be problems with the main wells at the ball field located across from the dam.
"It's difficult to explain here, but the well heads began to clog with sediments in the water, which caused air in the water, almost like carbonation. We called the in the engineers from Long Island (which had been contracted by the FHA) who designed the wells and they said that a lot of the problem was that when they drilled the wells and got to the bottom of the aquifer which the distance from the surface of the ground did not meet the state specifications of the depth of the well heads to the ground surface so the wells would have to be drilled deeper. And so they drilled deeper than they wanted to, which was now creating problems at the well head. We also brought in local well drillers and asked their opinions. They said firstly that the well design was inappropriate for this area. The well design would be good for sandy underground areas like Long Island, but here in Sussex County, it's best to drill in rock formations."
So, in the end, when it comes to the water problems with quality and pressure in Paulins Kill Lake, Uptegrove is convinced, "The major problem in the water district are the wells." He said, "I was on the board from 1982 to 1987, and except for paying the bills these past years, I really have been out of touch with the District. But we need to seek some solutions."
Dan Yardley, current president of Water District #1, has said that one of the wells clogging with manganese was the cause of the recent problem.
Uptegrove intends to be at the next meeting, "not to crucify or criticize, but to explore solutions." He hopes others will attend to explore possibilities also.
Yardley said water district meetings take place at the Stillwater Municipal Building on the second Tuesday of each month, starting at 730 p.m.