MUA Executive Director, Justin Flancbaum, tells LNN that Lakewood will build two new water treatment facilities to keep pace with changing government water quality regulations. The two-year construction project on New Hampshire and Shorrock Street will cost approximately $11 million.

The MUA sent the funding application to the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank (IBANK) on August 9th. We can expect a response from IBANK in the next two to three months and then move on to put the project out for bid. IBANK is a governmental funding resource that allows MUA’s and other government projects to obtain loans for less than what it would cost to bond or borrow elsewhere.

Why We Need These Treatment Facilities Now

Put simply- Things change. And when things like the government’s rules on what constitutes clean drinking water change, water providers must keep up. Brick MUA has already completed its new treatment facility.

The new facilities result from the 2020 NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) guidelines for per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances known in the industry as PFAS contaminants to keep in line with new Federal regulations of these compounds. PFAS contaminants are water and oil-repellent as well as heat-resistant. Therefore, they do not break down in the environment and are called “forever chemicals.”

They are found in things like Teflon cookware, waterproof and stain-proof coatings, food packaging, fire-fighting foams, and other applications. New Jersey now has some of the most stringent PFAS drinking water requirements in the United States.

The Lakewood MUA decided to build Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) facilities that can use various types of coal, peat, wood, and even coconut shells, all known to be highly porous materials and, therefore, instrumental in filtering out contaminants.

While our MUA rates are among the lowest in Ocean and Monmouth Counties and less than half of what NJAW customers are paying, the new required treatment plants did kick off a rate increase of %14.5 to be phased in over the next four years. In addition, the construction and actual PFAS treatment and facility maintenance present significant operational expenses.

The MUA has also encountered rising iron content in the water, which, according to Flancbaum, is completely naturally occurring but very destructive to our pumps and motors.