Ridgewood considers deal for purchase of Passaic Valley water

RIDGEWOOD — Officials have begun efforts to negotiate a deal for purchase of water from the Passaic Valley Water Commission to supplement the utility's reserves, which are mostly filled by local wells.

Ridgewood Water is a municipal water utility that receives 90 percent of its water from its own 52 wells, though 13 are currently unused due to contamination of mechanical failure. The other 10 percent is purchased from Suez Water and Hawthorne. In addition to its own residents, the utility serves customers in Glen Rock, Wyckoff and Midland Park.

Water purchased from other utilities supplements the more than 5 million gallons of water used per day in winter months, according to Director Rich Calbi Jr., and 17 million gallons per day during peak summer months.

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"We completed a study that determined what infrastructure we'd have to put in place to create that connection, essentially a pipeline," Calbi said.

The new line would require that hundreds of feet of pipe be installed between Ridgewood Water and Hawthorne at a cost of $1.5 million.

After the infrastructure improvements, Calbi said the next step would be to perform tests on the Passaic Valley water to determine whether it is compatible with Ridgewood's, noting that he needs to ensure the new source meets his utility's quality standards.

While Calbi said the connection would help fortify reserves in the case of an emergency and accommodate summer lawn care, the agreement would likely be for the purchase of water year round, a "take and pay agreement," as Calbi referred to it.

"It's certainly going to be in excess of a million gallons a day, and more in peak summer times," when water use sees a sharp increase due to lawn care, Calbi said.

"I don't want to say because we have to negotiate a contract with them," he added, later noting that negotiations have not yet begun between the two utilities. "Maybe we can try to negotiate an emergency connection so we just take it when we need it, but I couldn't tell you more at this time."

Currently, Ridgewood Water pays $3.40 per 1,000 gallons from Suez for "about 250 million gallons per year on average," he said.

Even with a take-and-pay agreement, the Passaic water would account for only an additional 5 percent to Ridgewood's reserves overall, according to Calbi, with wells still providing about 85 percent.