June 2, 2023
ROBBINSVILLE TOWNSHIP, NJ (MERCER)–The Township of Robbinsville said in a press release: Aqua Water customers in Robbinsville, Windsor and neighboring municipalities continue to experience low to non-existent water pressure, an issue which began Thursday.
Per Aqua, the current State of Emergency, declared Friday by the Robbinsville Office of Emergency Management (OEM), is due to a water well failure and was a planned maintenance event.
Aqua is working on the issue and while a company representative said late Thursday afternoon “the pressure gradient will increase overnight as we continue to pressurize the system,” that development did not materialize. The company said the water pressure problems could last through most of the weekend. The Robbinsville School District were informed Friday afternoon that “the entire repair will be done by Sunday night.”
As a result of the water well failure, Sharon Elementary School was forced to close Friday, while Pond Road Middle School, and Robbinsville High were dismissed early. Aqua is advising customers to please conserve water whenever possible.
“The biggest challenge that we’ve had has been a lack of communication,” Mayor Dave Fried said Friday while briefing the media at the Municipal Building. “Aqua did not notify us about what they were doing regarding its well maintenance, or how they were doing it. That lack of communication has caused us to shut down our schools, along with Amazon – one of the biggest distribution hubs in the world. That creates a domino effect and a number of different challenges for us and our local businesses.
“What we find most frustrating is this was a self-inflicted wound. Emergencies such as water main breaks happen. We get that. But Aqua decided to do these things as part of their maintenance and did not tell us. They did not work with us, so we had no ability to put contingency plans in place ahead of time. We have those contingencies in place now in the form of mutual aid for fire, but we had to scramble. Fire suppression is a huge concern, and all of these things we’ve had to do on the fly because of Aqua’s lack of communication and lack of planning. We learned about this situation from our residents, not from Aqua, and we find that incredibly disappointing to say the very least.”
The Township will continue to pass along any information as it becomes available. If you are in need of water or a cooling station this weekend, please contact the Robbinsville Police Department’s non-emergency number at (609) 259-3900.
Evening of June 2, 2023:
Our crews continue to address low water pressure impacting some Aqua New Jersey customers in Hamilton, Hamilton Square, Robbinsville and Chesterfield.
The team is working around the clock to address this issue, which was caused by a pump malfunction in one of our wells. We anticipate water pressure will improve significantly by tomorrow (Saturday) evening and will fully recover by Monday morning.
We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused our customers and remind them that:
- Your water has and continues to be safe to use and consume, despite low pressure.
- You can help the system pressure recover faster by conserving water. Please discontinue non- essential water activities and reduce water usage by taking shorter showers, stopping lawn irrigation and minimizing the use of washers and dishwashers.
- Please sign up for WaterSmart Alerts to get regular updates on water issues in your community.
Thank you for your patience – we will continue to coordinate with government and elected officials to keep our customers informed.
Robbinsville Township holds press confrence on water emergency in Robbinsville Township.
The Amazon warehouse on New Canton way appeared to just have essential personnel working. A parking lot that is usually full was empty this afternoon. A contractor was setting up a tent and portable toilets at the location. According to the Mayor the warehouse had to shut down to low water pressure.
An approximately 1-million-gallon water tank sits along the New Jersey Turnpike with the Robbinsville Township and Aqua Water logo on it welcoming people to Robbinsville.
A large Aqua water tank sits behind the office on Black Forest Drive in Hamilton Township. The wrap came off this week of the freshly painted tank. The Hamilton Township and Aqua logos can be seen from I-295.
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