I chaired South Orange's Water Utility Task Force, working with other volunteers and Village elected officials and employees. Together, we spent a year analyzing and comparing scenarios for retaining the Village's water system versus selling it. This work was done to inform Mayor Collum and our Village Council, which then decided to seek bids for the sale of the water system and ask residents to vote by referendum on whether our water system should be sold.

 

The Village has purchased its water supply, system operations, and maintenance from New Jersey American Water for almost a decade (and before from East Orange for almost 20 years), and outsources all of its infrastructure engineering and work. South Orange is among New Jersey's oldest communities, with parts of our water system over a century old. So, the decision to sell comes down to deciding the best way to operate and maintain our aging water system, make needed infrastructure repairs, modernize it, and fund all this without significant future rate increases. Importantly, part of this investment includes state-mandated, costly replacement of all lead and galvanized water service lines.

 

The Task Force reviewed the bids the Village received for our water system and supported moving forward with selling it.

 

Considerable time and work went into the analysis and decision to chart this path. I hope you'll join me in voting "yes" on the November 5th water system sale referendum.  It's the right choice for South Orange's future. 

 

Douglas Newman, Chair, South Orange Water Utility Task Force, former Village President (2007-2011), and 35-year South Orange resident