NORTHERN VALLEY AREA, N.J.—Despite pressure from town governments to expedite lead line replacements in early 2019—which led to a Suez commitment to replace 2,400 lines or 25 percent of its pipes—the utility has been less than forthcoming about local line replacements and water test results, charged several members of Tenafly’s Borough Council Sept. 24.
Meanwhile, the utility says it has been communicating and speaking to local officials to provide updates and information daily, what spokeswoman Debra Vial says amounts to “over-communication” by the utility.
Tenafly Councilwoman Lauren Dayton said Suez crews had done work on County Road and they were not informed and Suez has not provided data and test results requested.
Moreover, despite email requests from Dayton and others, Suez simply has not provided answers or information, she said.
“We have no facts and figures from Suez” related to local replacement work and information requests, said Dayton.
Upon her request, the council agreed to allow council emails related to Suez be sent to 37th district representatives, including state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, and state Assembly members Gordon Johnson and Valerie Vainieri Huttle to get them involved in helping Tenafly to obtain answers from Suez.
‘Taking real action’
“I also would like to insist for Suez that we as a borough begin taking real action, that they shouldn’t be allowed to come in without giving us real information, facts as to what their findings have been, what the lead testing has shown and where they need to go next,” said Dayton.
She said she wanted to know when Suez would be coming back to Tenafly, and what chemicals are being added to control lead line corrosion.
Dayton said “we need information” and also urged council members to allow Borough Attorney William McClure to write a letter demanding specific information from Suez about local water test results.
“We don’t have the level of lead found, the dates of the testing, what the follow-up is, and what the remediation process is,” she added.
Suez meeting postponed
Several council members were upset when Suez cancelled a closed-session meeting Sept. 24 to discuss its local replacement efforts and discussed ways to compel the utility to provide information about lead line removals and water quality testing.
Councilman Mark Zinna wondered if there is “a process” that must be followed when Suez is going to dig up a road.
Borough Administrator Lissette Aportela said generally a utility would notify police if a road must be closed. However, McClure said the utility may not legally have to notify the borough in advance of road work, though they generally do.
Mayor Peter Rustin said to get answers from Suez, questions may need to be posed to the state Board of Public Utilities about what lead levels Suez found in drinking water and what rights Tenafly has in the future to address lead.
Dayton said mostly the concern with Suez “is a safety issue” and suggested Suez appear soon to answer questions on its lead efforts.
16,000 customers reached
A Suez spokeswoman said Suez has communicated with 16,000-plus customers since news broke in mid-January of elevated lead levels in drinking water. Suez confirmed 15 of 108 homes tested in the last half of 2018 showed elevated lead levels, over a federal standard of 15 parts per billion. Since then, home water testing samples have mostly met federal standards—at least in the first six months of 2019.
The water utility serves approximately 200,000 customers in Hudson and Bergen counties and a total of about 800,000 individuals. Since January, the utility has refused to provide specifics to Northern Valley Press about what towns faced elevated lead level readings or what those actual water test results showed.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers no level of lead safe in drinking water.
The spokeswoman said the Tenafly meeting was postponed due to Suez officials being at another meeting.
She said sometimes public officials are not finding out about Suez replacement efforts “because they’re not funneling information well within their own towns” and promised to “now make sure we loop in more people early…we need to send information to all the local officials…even over-communication,” she added.
She said Suez sends emails to town administrators and mayors in advance of work to apprise them of local lead replacement efforts.
1,700 lines replaced
Suez spokeswoman Debra Vial said the utility was “closing in on 1,700 lines replaced” and was aiming to replace at least 2,450 leaded connections and service lines in 2019.
She said in about 100 cases, the utility replaced its lead service line but left the lead customer line. It did notify the customer of the lead line, but most customers chose not to replace their lead lines, she said.
Vial said customers’ reluctance to pay for lead line replacement was why a Suez-subsidized customer replacement program was necessary. Suez estimates customer costs at $3,000-$8,000 per replacement but offers no estimates of total customer lead lines.
Only a month ago, public officials in Tenafly and Englewood offered conflicting—and at times incomplete—accounts of Suez drinking water replacements, testing and results.
In some towns, such as Old Tappan, representatives from the Northwest Bergen Regional Health Commission have offered lead testing kits and information sessions for concerned residents.
Several officials have mentioned Suez offered free water lead testing but that is inaccurate, said Vial.
She noted free testing is available only to customers if a Suez-owned lead line or gooseneck exists, or if Suez is unsure if their line is lead.
‘Delicate balancing act’
After a recent Bergen County League of Municipalities meeting on Sept. 10, Alpine Mayor Paul Tomasko said Suez appeared responsive to public officials’ questions and noted the utility “has a delicate balancing act [here]…they’re doing their best to do this as quickly as they can,” he added.
However, Tomasko said some public officials wanted “a level of detail” that varied widely, but he noted Suez officials did a good job offering information on lead testing and replacements.
He said he was surprised the utility was facing so much resistance to its proposed customer lead line replacement program. Suez proposed the customer line replacement program in late March following its announcement of expedited replacement efforts.
The proposal offers to replace customer lead lines for $1,000—payable in a lump sum or over a year-long installment plan—with Suez’s 200,000 ratepayers making up the cost difference via a long-term surcharge or base increase to customer bills.
The proposal is opposed by the state Division of Rate Counsel—a state agency that advocates for utility ratepayers—who wants the private utility to find another way to pay for customer line replacements or offer free replacement.
In Newark, where elevated lead levels were detected more than three years ago, the city was ordered to purchase bottled drinking water by a state agency during the summer after finding two of three water filters it provided showed high lead readings.
Currently, a $120 million bond issue is being prepared by Essex County to fund lead line replacements for nearly 18,000 customers.
Vial declined to reveal specifics about financing options for Suez’s proposed customer replacement program, currently under review by the state Office of Administrative Law after the state Board of Public Utilities transferred the matter in May.
