County health reports flag water test failures and confirm idling-bus penalties at Sussex County Mall

Sussex County Division of Health inspection reports for October–November 2025 were entered into the Hampton Township Board of Health record at the Jan. 20 meeting, including multiple retail food, septic, safe-water and private well testing entries. The county reports note several routine satisfactory inspections but also list test failures and detections: E. coli and total coliform on some samples, private well testing failures for iron, manganese and gross-alpha, and entries citing PFOA/PFOS detections on private well test notifications.

During a discussion of the consent agenda, board member Terry Cassidy asked about a November report referencing an idling bus at the Sussex County Mall. Najah Davenport of the Sussex County Health Department reported back (on Jan. 21, 2026) that "during the hour of idling surveillance, there were two Lakeland charter buses observed idling more than three minutes in the parking lot of the Sussex County Mall. Both buses were issued a violation and penalty." The minutes record this follow-up as the county’s response to the earlier report.

The inspection logs attached to the minutes enumerate numerous facility-level entries (examples referenced include Wawa, Lowe’s, Walmart, McKeown School and others) and list PWSID identifiers for some public systems (for example, PWSID 1910321 for the Sussex Co. Mall system). Several private-well test notifications in November 2025 flagged contaminant concerns (PFOA/PFOS, iron, manganese, gross-alpha) requiring further follow-up by property owners and county staff.

The board approved the county reports as part of the consent agenda. The minutes do not indicate additional board action or remediation deadlines beyond the county’s documented enforcement (idling violations) and the routine follow-up processes that accompany inspection failures.