Wantage to require minimum water flow before building

WANTAGE-Beginning next month, just having a well won't be good enough for those building new homes in the township. Under an ordinance scheduled for adoption on Aug. 11, if a residential building site doesn't have a well that produces at least two gallons of water a minute, no home can be built there. The ordinance was introduced because of the concerns expressed by both state and local officials about the health of the aquifer underlying the town. Council members called the proposed law, "drill before you dig." "A number of years ago there was concern during a drought period," said Committeeman Jeff Parrott. "Citizens were questioning whether the aquifer would be able to support the building that was going on." Their concerns did not fall on deaf ears, according to Parrott. The township hired the engineering firm of URS to conduct a study of all the wells within the township. "They mapped all of the wells and determined that the average flow rate was around 3.25 gallons per minute," Parrott said. "Wantage has a lot of water, but in any town there are pockets" of greater or lesser flow. The State of New Jersey mandates that all wells be capable of pumping at least one-quarter gallon per bedroom. However, the state's mandate is antiquated, according to Parrott, and water usage has expanded exponentially since it was written. To combat this, communities around the state, specifically in the Highlands Region, have tried to implement stiffer requirements. The town of Kinnelon recently mandated that each well be capable of producing at least five gallons per minute, but scaled that back to three gallons when it was found that the higher requirement was too harsh. Wantage is following suit by proposing its own ordinance. By taking into account the average flow rate for the town and the state's requirement, the council came up with what Parrot feels is a fair number. "This will help protect the interests of our citizens as well as the equity in their property," he said.