Equipment failure forces residents to boil water
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer

JACKSON - Although municipal officials and the owner of a mobile home park were hopeful late last week that regular water service would be restored for residents in short order, that did not appear to be the case on July 21.

A telephone message that was played when callers phoned the Fountainhead mobile home park on July 21 indicated that a pump replacement had not been concluded as of that date. Callers were informed that an order to boil water might remain in effect for as long as 10 days.

Township Administrator Phil Del Turco reported on July 16 that there was a water problem at the Fountainhead, Cooks Bridge Road. There are 162 mobile homes in the age-restricted development.

"They have a private well there for the residential community and it appears that the motor has burned out," Del Turco said. "The pump is down inside the well casing, right in the water. I think the pump was somewhat old and there is a tendency for an old pump to fail."

Del Turco said municipal officials stepped in to offer assistance. Two tank trailers were sent in to provide nonpotable water. Water was put back in the system so that residents would be able to flush their toilets, he said.

The Jackson Mills Fire Company sent a tanker truck to the development. The Ocean County Department of Health and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) were notified of the situation, Del Turco said.

The DEP instructed residents to boil water before consuming it or using it to wash vegetables. The order to boil water was expected to remain in place until the water was deemed to be safe.

Also on the scene at the request of Mayor Mark Seda were members of the Jackson Office of Emergency Management, including Emergency Management Coordinator Barry Olejarz.

Del Turco said the plan was to pull the well casing in an attempt to determine for certain that it was the motor in the well that was causing the problem.

The Jackson School District offered the use of a fieldhouse so that residents would be able to shower in the event that the situation could not be resolved in short order, Del Turco said.

"The Board of Education has been gracious enough to offer their facility," he said.

Del Turco said it was good to see how the township mobilized to help the residents of the mobile home park.

He said there is an application for the Fountainhead to tie in with the Jackson Township Municipal Utilities Authority system, but that solution may be a year or two away.

Fountainhead owner Nancy Viviano offered shower facilities to the residents of the mobile home park at the nearby Indian Rock Campground, which she also owns.

"We are in the process of identifying and purchasing all the parts that are necessary" for the repair, Viviano said late last week. "Until you get the pump out of the well, it's difficult to know the parts you need. Everybody has been managing [under the circumstances]. People want the water to come out of the tap. Nobody likes to carry water."