United Water plans big fixes in North Jersey
JUNE 3, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 2014, 8:08 AM
BY SCOTT FALLON
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
United Water will spend $220 million over the next three years to replace leaky water mains, valves and other aging infrastructure to help prevent the annual loss of billions of gallons of drinking water, executives said Monday.
The money, from a special fee imposed on ratepayers, will be used to replace as much as 450 miles of water mains, mostly in Bergen and Hudson counties, where the average underground pipe is 70 years old. That would account for 20 percent of the company’s 2,200 miles of water mains.
“It’s not a situation where you’re just going to go out and say we’re going to replace everything immediately,” said Robert Iacullo, executive vice president of United Water, which serves 800,000 residents in the two counties. “You’re going to prioritize where the frequency of main breaks have been, how critical it is in terms of population being served.”
Iacullo announced the plan at a news conference in Cliffside Park, where U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, were drumming up support for a bill that would make it easier for local governments to get money to make repairs to aging water systems. The Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act of 2014 would remove the federal cap on municipal bonds used to pay for sewerage and water system upgrades.
“The longer you wait to fix them, it only gets worst and more expensive,” Pascrell said as a United Water crew fixed a broken valve behind him.
Like many of New Jersey’s water utilities, United Water loses much more water than the industry standard of 15 percent. About 26 percent, or 10.6 billion gallons, was unaccounted for in 2011, the bulk of that from burst water mains, holes in corroded pipes or leaky joints, experts have said. United Water has averaged more than one water main break per day over the past five years.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/united-water-plans-big-fixes-in-north-jersey-1.1027933#sthash.CnAaotLu.dpuf