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MULLICA TOWNSHIP — Recurring water quality problems at Mullica Woods manufactured home park have residents concerned for their health, especially after they have been under a boil water notice for two weeks.
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MULLICA TOWNSHIP — Recurring water quality problems at Mullica Woods manufactured home park have residents concerned for their health, especially after they have been under a boil water notice for two weeks.
In
the latest problem, a well failure sent sand into the water treatment
system and knocked it out of commission late last month, according to
owners Hometown America Communities of Chicago.
The
system then had to be treated with high levels of chlorine, which meant
residents couldn’t use the water at all for about two days.
The
company’s Eastern Regional Manager Tara Edmonds said Tuesday the boil
water alert and chlorine flush was required by the state as a result of
that failure and loss of water pressure, “not as a result of water
quality.”
About 30 residents
met in the community clubhouse Tuesday to discuss the problem, which
they said is only the most recent in a string of water and sewer issues.
“I pay $8,000 a year to live here. This place should be beautiful,” said Bob Maholland, a resident for 20 years.
Instead, he said there are constant problems.
While
he believes Hometown America is trying to fix them, and is doing more
than two other previous owners, he said the aggravation is taking its
toll.
“If it’s not the water,
it’s the septic system. If not the septic system, it’s the electric.
It’s a constant problem in here,” Maholland said.
The
notices told them to boil their water for at least a minute before
drinking or using for food preparation, making ice, brushing teeth, or
washing dishes, because of potential bacterial contamination.
Hometown
America, based in Chicago, owns the 55-plus community and its water and
sewer systems. Residents own their homes, but rent the land they sit on
from the company.
The company also owns and runs Oaks of
Weymouth, where residents have complained of poor drainage and standing
water damaging their homes; and The Fairways at Mays Landing, which was
recently named the Manufactured Housing Industry’s Land-Leased Community
of the Year for the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Region.
The company has provided each house with two cases of bottled water, residents said.
The
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection gets involved every
time a boil water advisory is issued, said spokesman Larry Hajna.
He
said the DEP’s system has received verbal results from the laboratory
that the total coliform samples are negative, but was waiting for the
laboratory to certify the results prior to lifting the boil water
advisory.
Hometown America has
sent residents other notices in the past 18 months about water system
problems, upgrades to improve water pressure, and plans to replace the
aging water tower. It has also reported failure of septic fields, and
there have been electrical failures as well.
“Sunday we had no electricity, so we
couldn’t even boil our water,” said resident Sandy Burcham, who has
lived there about a year.
The
DEP has received an application from the park for changes in water
treatment and to replace the storage tank, said spokesman Larry Hajna.
Residents said the tank is the source of the rusty color and taste of their water.
Hajna
said the original application was received on Dec. 18, 2015, and the
DEP responded that there were administrative and technical deficiencies
with the application. He said the company response was just received on
Sept. 1 and is under review.
Mullica
Woods has had some monitoring and reporting violations — mostly due to
the system submitting results late —and a CCR (Consumer Confidence
Report) violation, Hajna said, but all of the violations are closed.
“We have had ongoing problems with the water ever since we moved here,” said Joyce Howell, a resident for 12 years.
Howell said she has always purchased bottled water because what comes out of her tap, even when not under a boil notice, has so much iron and “a rotten egg smell.”
Howell said she has always purchased bottled water because what comes out of her tap, even when not under a boil notice, has so much iron and “a rotten egg smell.”
“It’s not like you’d want to cook in it or drink it,” she said.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
All of the required monitoring and results is viewable by the public on Drinking Water Watch at https://www9.state.nj.us/DEP_WaterWatch_public/JSP/WSDetail.jsp?tinwsys=23/.
FILE A COMPLAINT:
877-WARNDEP (877) 927-6337
Contact: 609-272-7219
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