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North Jersey drinking water going to waste as system leaks lose 25%
Photo by Boyd Loving
North Jersey drinking water going to waste as system leaks lose 25%
Ridgewood Water lost 20 percent
SATURDAY JULY 14, 2012, 11:48 PM
BY JAMES M. O’NEILL
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
At a time when towns are being fined for excessive water use and utilities are battling over the rights to pump water out of the Passaic River system, North Jersey’s largest water supplier — saddled with miles of leaky, aging pipes — routinely loses track of 25 percent of the water it treats before a drop ever reaches customers. And other suppliers lose even more.
Last year alone, United Water could not account for 26 percent of the water it treated and pumped. That amounts to 10.6 billion gallons, enough to fill the Oradell Reservoir three times over. “United Water has a lot of leaks in their system. It’s one of the leakiest systems I know,” said Robert Kecskes, a retired water supply expert for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
But United Water isn’t the only supplier with losses significantly above the industry standard of 15 percent. In 2011, Ho-Ho-Kus couldn’t account for 33 percent of the water it pumped and treated — one of every three gallons — according to state documents. Oakland lost 28 percent, while Ridgewood Water lost 20 percent. In fact, across the nation, water utilities lose billions of gallons of drinking water each year because of their aging infrastructure.
Forget the parking garage for a few and fix the pipes for all.