A water main break in the recently repaved Elizabeth Court road has prompted discussions between the town and representatives from United Water Company of Hackensack.
Fifteen homes went without water for several hours on Nov. 1 after the early morning rupture stopped the flow of water along the small street in the north end of town.
The water main break happened eight weeks after the town repaved Elizabeth Court, and local officials are seeking to get the water company to perform a better grade repaving than is usual. To repair the water main, crews from United Water had to dig up the street again.
“We think the water company is going to have to do something extra ordinary to take care of this situation,” Mayor Dennis Elwell said.
Normally, when utility companies such as United Water or PSE&G dig up a street to do a repair, they are only required to fill in and patch the spot of entry. But since it is a newly repaved street, town officials are pushing to have more than patching done.
“We’ve met with officials from the water company to discuss the matter,” Elwell said.
“Right now we’re in negotiation with the water company,” said Town Administrator Anthony Iacono. “Normally the company would do a patch, but we’re asking them to do a strip repaving.”
A patch would involve merely filling in the hole and covering it over with asphalt. A strip repaving would require the company to repave a section of street from curb to curb along the section where the repair was made.
“A strip repaving would have no seams and would be almost impossible to detect,” Iacono said. “But strip paving is much more expensive than patch paving, yet it’s cheaper than having to repave the whole street. We’re trying to get as much paved as possible.”
Earlier this year, the Town Council authorized improvements to various streets, using $373,000 in grants from the state of New Jersey Transportation trust fund for work on Franklin Street, Elizabeth Court, and Tenth Street.
Pre-inspection showed no sign of problem
Before the town repaves any street in Secaucus, it notifies all the utilities companies so that an inspection can be done of underground facilities.
“Prior to paving Elizabeth Court, an inspection was done,” Iacono said. “Everything passed. We have the certification of inspection. But that only proves there was no water leak eight weeks ago. You can do an inspection today and find no water, and then have a break tomorrow.”
Iacono said many of the water pipes under Secaucus are 100 years old, and the water company does not upgrade them regularly the way another utility such as PSE&G might.
“With PSE&G, there are changes in technology that require them to go in an upgrade things in the street. That’s what’s happening on Eight Street and Hudson Street right now,” Iacono said. “But with water pipes, it is the same technology, even if it is 100 years old. The only time you upgrade it is when there is a leak. No leak was detected at the time of inspection.”
Another break happened before repaving
Another water main break occurred a week earlier when a sections of Meadowlands Parkway caved in. While the town was also in the process of repaving that roadway, too, the break occurred at a section the repavers had not yet done.
“United Water came in, fixed the problem and then patched it,” Iacono said. “We went in afterwards and repaved it.” Earlier this year, Secaucus received $1.4 million from the NJ Transit Corporation Urban Care Program as part of an effort to help curb flooding in a section of the 3rd Ward by making roadway infrastructure improvements. In August, the town awarded a $900,000 contract to do the work.
In order to avoid patching problems there, town officials came to several agreements that would insist on strip paving as opposed to patch. The town currently has an agreement with Hartz Mountain Industries and the owners of the Hess property on Meadowlands Parkway. Hartz, which is responsible for sewers along Meadowlands Parkway, would be required to repave sections of the road if a repair is necessary. Similarly, Hess – which is expected to make sewer connections in the near future for a proposed seven-story hotel complex on Meadowlands Parkway – would have to repave wherever they dug up in the street.