Toms River slams United Water rate hike plans

TOMS RIVER – United Water Toms River on Thursday defended its request for an 18 percent rate hike, amid mounting criticism from government officials that the increase is excessive.

Toms River council voted, 7 to 0, on Tuesday to oppose the rate increase. "This is the fourth increase they've sought since 2008," Committeeman George E. Wittmann Jr. said.

During that time period, the water company's rates have risen about 106 percent, Wittmann said. Inflation was about 16 percent during the same period, he noted.

"It's unacceptable," Wittmann said of the latest rate hike, which would raise the average water customer's rates $7.57 per month, according to the water company. A typical customer would see his or her bill rise from $42.42 a month to $49.94.

But the water company contends the rate hike request is justified.

United Water's operations director, Jim Mastrokalos, noted that the rate increase would provide the company with $5.2 million to cover the costs of various capital projects, including replacing aging underground pipe and building a booster pump station off Indian Head Road. The booster pump would help improve water pressure and firefighting capability in North Dover, an area that has occasionally seen low water pressure during heat waves and times of great demand for water.

"Normally for a pipe installed in the ground, depending on the material, it could last from 50 to 100 years," Mastrokalos said. Most of the underground pipes in Toms River are made of asbestos cement, and have a life expectancy of 50 to 70 years. Much of this pipe is close to 50 years old now, he said.

The company plans to replace about two miles of water main using money from the rate increase.

The township's action follows a resolution adopted earlier this month by the Berkeley Township Council, whose members also vowed to fight the rate hike. Berkeley Mayor Carmen A. Amato Jr. called the company's request "unconscionable." United Water Toms River serves about 125,000 people in Toms River, South Toms River and the Silver Ridge and Holiday City sections of Berkeley.

"As you get closer to that expectancy, you're going to see higher and higher failure rates," Mastrokalos said. "We are trying to proactively get in there and start replacing pipes with a different material that lasts longer." The new pipe will be made of ductile iron, which is expected to last at least 100 years.

United Water was also hurt because the company did not request a rate increase from 1995 until 2008, Kunka has said.

The water company, which has aggressively encouraged water conservation since the 1990s, has seen water usage drop significantly in the last decade. Mastrokalos said he compared usage last year to a year a decade ago which had similar weather. "We pumped 650 million more gallons 10 years ago than we do today," he said.

The company's costs are continued to rise, while water demand has fallen, according to company spokeswoman Jane Kunka. United Water strongly encouraged conservation after a compound related to plastics production was found in two wells at its Parkway well field. Those wells were capturing a plume of groundwater contamination from the Reich Farm Superfund site, one mile north of the well field.

The two wells are no longer used in United's drinking water system.

It could take up to nine months for the state Board of Public Utilities to review United Water Toms River's rate hike request. Public hearings are expected to be scheduled in the area so that residents can testify about the increase.

Jean Mikle: 732-643-4050, jmikle@app.com