Water company ignores all pleas to change sewer charge

I would like to respond to Lendel G. Jones, vice president of external affairs for the New Jersey American Water Company, who responded in a letter to Howell residents' concerns about exorbitant water bills at The Reserve at the Manasquan River.

I am a resident of Toscana, a 3-year-old community in Howell, off Fort Plains Road. We, too, have complained loudly to both our Howell government representatives and directly to the water company itself over the incredibly high water bills we have received from New Jersey American Water.

Ms. Jones tries to use a holier than thou approach to make us believe that New Jersey Amer-ican is true blue and innocent of all charges and accusations about their high prices for water usage. She attempts to deflect and even dismiss the real issue that residents in Toscana have been screaming about since we re-ceived our first unbelievably large water bills back in 2003.

It is not the cost of the water itself that has us up in arms, it is the cost that New Jersey Amer-ican Water imposes on us for water sewage charges. Residents in Freehold Township (where I resided for 10 years prior to moving to Toscana, about 1 mile from my old home) pay approximately $160 a quarter for water sewage charges.

I have paid double, triple and sometimes quadruple that amount per quarter because New Jersey American Water bases its water sewage charges on water volume rather than charging a flat amount. We had been led to believe by our builder, M. Reider, in original information packets about the development, that we could expect to pay the same amount as Freehold residents for our sewage charges.

We have since had an additional water line and second meter installed so our landscaping water charges are not compounded by additional sewage charges. However, this is only a band-aid on the problem.

I have correspondence from Mayor Joseph DiBella, Township Manager Bruce Davis, and actually met with Chief Financial Officer Jeff Filiatreault with other members of our Toscana Water Committee dating back to 2004.

New Jersey American Water does not want to do anything to alleviate the outrageous sewage charges.

They successfully dodge the real issue and hide behind layers of government, filed tariffs, BPU backlogs, and aim to just outlast consumer complaints and hope we just get tired of fighting. They have been non-responsive to requests made by our Howell officials to address the complaints of township residents.

So, Ms. Jones, before smugly insinuating that the residents of The Reserve at the Manasquan River (and Toscana residents, too) should just shut up and pay for the water they are using, address the real issue, the ridiculous sewer charges. It must feel good working for a monopoly that controls a basic necessity of life. Oh, by the way, care to pay my latest water bill? You just might need to take out a loan.

Jim Gerard

Howell

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