Water Quality

Susie Harris stopped drinking the water from the taps in her South Camden home years ago. "It tasted bitter and nasty, a terrible taste," said Harris, 70. She said she had to begin buying bottled water. Harris joined a handful of residents at Rutgers University-Camden yesterday for a meeting to discuss the city's water problems with state officials. Her home was among eight residences and businesses where elevated lead levels were found in the water. The state tested 39 samples for lead between March and June.

The sign: A tiny sow bug creeping along researcher Andy Duddleston's muddy fingertip. The meaning: Suburban sprawl and the runoff from fertilizers are affecting South Jersey's watersheds and water supply. Finding a sow bug in a Burlington County stream last week at Laurel Acres Park in Mount Laurel revealed that the water has a lot of room for improvement, Duddleston's colleague Chris Trainor said. With water levels dropping because of drought, many environmental groups are seizing the opportunity to inform residents about protecting what remains of the resource.

Caught on the defensive after the release of a federal report indicating poor water quality in some Chester County streams, county commissioners pledged yesterday to increase efforts to improve stream water. At the weekly commissioners' meeting, county water authority officials gave a sobering overview of stream water health in a county known for its commitment to conservation. In Chester County, 276 of 1,300 total miles - about 21 percent - of streams do not meet state water quality standards, officials said.

It looks like a small-scale Epcot Center, but it is in a township of about 2,200. The white fiberglass dome rises high in the sky, enclosing filters, catwalks and minerals - all part of a plan to rid residents' water of a rust color and provide enough water for new homes to be built. The Consumers New Jersey Water Co. facility on Center Square Road has been pumping water into 250 homes in the Weatherby development since June. And 288 more homes - part of the Lexington Hill section of Weatherby - will eventually sign on. The domed building and a nearby brick structure chemically treat the water for Summitt Ventures LLC's Weatherby development, which upon completion would have 4,500 homes.

Acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco has effectively abandoned former Gov. Christie Whitman's controversial proposal to curb sprawl and clean up the state's waters. Drafted to comply with the state's master plan for "smart growth," the proposal had sought to concentrate development in areas already approved for sewer service while setting up hurdles to growth in other areas through a stricter sewer-permitting process. DiFrancesco had had until July 3 to adopt the so-called Water Quality and Watershed Management Rules.

Peco Energy Co. was unaware that it was in an environmentally protected area when it plowed down trees and plants along its transmission line in the Valley Creek watershed, company officials said yesterday. The watershed area has been designated for years as being of exceptional value - the highest protection by the state Department of Environmental Protection, agency officials said. Peco officials say they didn't know. "We were not aware this area was designated as exceptional value," Michael Wood, a spokesman, said.

New Jersey's private-well users could soon be required, for the first time, to find out exactly what is in their drinking water. Responding to widespread reports of groundwater contamination, the Assembly yesterday approved a bill, 71-5, that would require that every home supplied by a private well have its water tested as a condition of sale. Leased homes would have to be checked every five years. The measure, which would pave the way for the most comprehensive statewide look at groundwater quality, now goes to acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco, who is expected to sign it into law. The Senate passed it Feb. 15. "No longer will the quality of our water be in darkness," said the bill's prime sponsor, Assemblyman George Geist (R., Gloucester)

Even as it faces pressure to strengthen its plan to clean up New Jersey waterways, the state Department of Environmental Protection has come under new criticism after proposing water-quality standards meant to guide the cleanup. The result of almost four years of department-led "stakeholder" discussions, the standards would define what "clean" is for different waterways and set goals to be met through the state's proposed water-quality and watershed-management rules, which have come under heavy attack.

Gov. Whitman yesterday announced plans to reopen discussion on her administration's controversial proposal for water-quality management rules. The rules, which aim to curb sprawl and protect water resources, have met with strong public criticism since their release in July. Environmentalists say they lack the teeth needed to protect the state's 6,450 miles of waterways. Builders say the proposal would introduce too much red tape. Everyone complains the 400-page document is too confusing.

Lawmakers from both parties said they would introduce a bill next month to overturn a proposed water-management rule if the state did not make immediate changes to strengthen it. The announcement came yesterday from Assemblyman Leonard Lance (R., Hunterdon), the powerful chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee and cosponsor of a resolution to nullify the controversial proposal by the Department of Environmental Protection. In a bipartisan effort, 75 lawmakers already have written to Gov. Whitman and complained that the Water Quality and Watershed Management rule lacks the teeth to clean up the state's waterways and restrict unchecked development.