11th-Hour Solution to Water Contamination: Will It Come with Long-Term Side Effects?

For some time, residents have expressed concerns about the contamination of drinking water from inadequately treated wastewater that will be discharged directly into Willow Brook, which feeds the Swimming River Reservoir, the source of potable water for over 300,000 Monmouth County residents.  Residents have urged the Township Committee and the Planning Board to require the redeveloper at the former Vonage property to install a modern wastewater management plant with subsurface disposal of the wastewater.

See Holmdel Planning Board and TC Actions Raise Questions

At the Jan. 22^nd Township Committee meeting, Mayor Rocco Impreveduto revealed an agreement with the redeveloper to address residents’ concerns about drinking water contamination.

Instead of requiring the redeveloper to construct a new modern wastewater management plant, the Township will install a “force main” sewer line and connect it to the existing force main at Bell Works.  Mayor Impreveduto stated that this approach would take “all environmental concerns off the table.”  He further explained that the new sewer line would be sized exclusively for the Vonage redevelopment and deed-restricted to prevent additional development in southern Holmdel.

A few days later, the Holmdel Planning Board approved the developer’s plan at its Jan. 27, 2026 meeting.

While avoiding water contamination is viewed by residents as a step in the right direction, some have expressed concerns about the implications of the new force main sewer line.  These concerns include the potential for increased high-density development in the future, endangering the environmentally sensitive area, and the lack of water regeneration for the Swimming River Reservoir.

“We had to go in on our own; we had to organize. We had to hire professionals, spend money, spend lots of time trying to protect ourselves and the environment, when we thought that that’s what you would be doing.  So, the frustration grew,” resident Kristin Celauro said at the Township Committee meeting.

The bucolic nature of southern Holmdel has been maintained largely because of non-sewered planning and policy.

“Déjà Vu All Over Again”

Most of southern Holmdel is designated as an “Environmentally Sensitive” area (Planning Area or PA-5), including the former 473-acre Bell Labs site on Crawfords Corner Road.

Before 1992, Bell Labs operated two on-site sewage treatment plants - one for standard waste and another serving a chemical laboratory.  Due to concerns about the treatment plant nearing the end of its useful life, and because effluent from the chemical laboratory contained dangerous levels of heavy metals and other toxic substances that were being discharged into the Ramanessin Brook at less than one mile from the Swimming River Reservoir, Bell Labs requested permission from the Township to connect to the municipal sewer system in northern Holmdel.

Aware of the Township’s long-standing policy against sewering environmentally sensitive areas in southern Holmdel, Bell Labs requested that the sewer line be designated as a “sole-source” line, intended exclusively for the chemical laboratory.

In 1992, driven by concerns over toxic metal discharge into the Swimming River Reservoir, the Township reluctantly agreed to permit a sewer line that would transport the hazardous waste to the larger and more sophisticated Bayshore Regional Sewer Authority treatment facility.  For practical reasons, effluent from the main office building was also included.  Importantly, the Township explicitly stated that the sewer line was approved solely for the existing facilities and not for the entire property.

In 2012, the redevelopment plan for the former Bell Labs property included the construction of 225 new residential units along with the repurposing of the existing building into a mixed-use “metrohub.”   Despite the earlier 1992 restriction, the Township allowed the new high-density residential units to connect to the existing sewer line.

In the Spring 2013 Township Newsletter, then-Mayor Patrick Impreveduto assured residents that adjacent properties would not be permitted to connect to the sewer line, saying there are “very clear and specific requirements.”

Fast forward to 2026: Mayor Rocco Impreveduto, son of former Mayor Patrick Impreveduto, is now similarly assuring residents that the new force main sewer line, which will be connected to the Bell Works sewer line, will be used exclusively for that 299-unit development and that no other properties will be allowed to connect due to the size of the new sewer line and deed restrictions.

History has already shown to repeat itself.  Will it do so again as pressure for increased affordable housing grows in the future?  Are other developers watching and will they sue for similar access?

Financing

In most development and redevelopment projects, developers bear the costs of wastewater management—whether through on-site treatment facilities or by constructing sewer lines to connect to existing systems.

However, for the former Vonage redevelopment, the Township has agreed to construct the new force main sewer line at an estimated cost of $5.2 million. Twenty percent of this cost will be funded through the Township’s affordable housing trust fund, which is financed by developer contributions.

The Township will issue bonds or notes to cover the remaining balance (approximately $4 million) and will enter into a special assessment agreement under which the redeveloper will pay $50,000 per quarter to the Township over a 30-year period.  In effect, the Township is using its credit rating and borrowing capacity to finance the sewer project on behalf of the redeveloper.

Trucking of Wastewater Off-Site

For a period of three years, the redeveloper has agreed to collect and pump wastewater from the project into tanker trucks for off-site disposal at its own cost and expense.

Once the new sewer line is completed and the project is connected, the redeveloper, at its own expense, will decommission the existing wastewater management plant.

Stay tuned. This is breaking news, and we will share additional information as it becomes available.

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