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Resident urges ordinance to force large users off municipal aquifer; council suggests MUA consultation
Summary
A Williamstown resident asked council to require large commercial users to source process water from a deeper aquifer rather than the municipal drinking supply; council members said DEP and the Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) regulate wells and suggested tabling the idea for a joint discussion with the MUA.
Eric Fuder, a Williamstown resident, asked council to consider an ordinance requiring large commercial or industrial facilities (for example, buildings over a specified square footage) to source process water from a deeper aquifer — the Potomac‑Raritan aquifer — rather than the Kirkwood aquifer that supplies municipal drinking water.
Fuder argued the deeper aquifer is plentiful and isolated from the municipal drinking‑water supply and said developers should be required to drill to that source for process, irrigation or cooling water to avoid draining the drinking‑water aquifer. "I would just like to suggest to council that an ordinance that addresses that be implemented," he said.
Council members cautioned that the DEP and the MUA govern well siting and withdrawals; the liaison to the MUA said the authority typically controls service areas and that adding private wells where the MUA already provides service raises jurisdictional and technical issues. Council suggested tabling the item for a follow‑up conversation with the MUA and municipal professionals.
