Ridgewood water director reports PFAS progress and urges $4 million supplemental appropriation

Rich Calvi, director of Ridgewood Water, updated the Village Council on March 30 about the village’s PFAS program and financing needs.

Calvi said the utility recently activated the sixth of 12 PFAS treatment facilities and described a proposed one‑year pilot collaboration with a company called Revive to test in‑situ reactivation of carbon inside treatment vessels. "They have the technology to destruct PFAS... now they want to add on to that to create a method whereby they destroy it inside the vessel," Calvi said, adding the pilot will be provided at no charge to the village and will involve in‑kind sample collection and periodic checks by utility staff.

Calvi also asked the council to consider a supplemental appropriation to a bond ordinance the council approved in 2023. The original bond order was for $42,000,000 covering four PFAS projects; McManmon Scott, the closing attorney, flagged that the existing ordinance will be short when closing the fourth loan. Calvi recommended adding an additional $4,000,000 to cover IBank fees, administrative expenses and contingencies required by the financing process.

Calvi said the additional appropriation is intended to allow the village to close the final loan; he added the entire amount may not be spent but is necessary to meet iBank requirements at closing. Council members asked procedural questions about crossings of water lines with NJDOT guide‑rail work on Route 17 and Route 208 and sought confirmation that the pilot would not disrupt current operations.

Next steps noted in the workshop included moving forward with loan closing preparations and reviewing the Revive pilot details; no final financing vote was recorded at the March 30 work session.