Municipal Utilities Authority hires firm to track source of pollutants BY DANIELLE MEDINA Correspondent BRICK TOWNSHIP — The Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) has hired a firm to determine the cause of contaminants in the Metedeconk River, its main water source. The MUA detected elevated levels of perchloroethylene (PCE), a volatile organic compound in early 2005, which can cause cancer and other adverse effects. “You’re allowed to have them in the water, but there is a maximum level,” MUA Chairman Patrick Bottazzi said. “We’re below the maximum, but we want to be more cautious.” When the river flow is low, the volatile organic chemical compound is higher, Bottazzi said. “Let’s say you have a quart of water and you put 1 ounce of vinegar in it,” Bottazzi said. “There is a taste of vinegar in it. But if you have a gallon of water and you put 1 ounce of vinegar in it, you wouldn’t know it’s there. It’s about volume.” T&M Associates, Middletown, will be paid $24,716 for the study, to analyze the data the MUA has already compiled. The firm will also conduct a survey of known contaminated sites, to look for users of the contaminants that have been found in the water. T&M will also study surface and groundwater flows and collect samples to determine the source of the pollutants. Volatile organic compounds are emitted as gases by a wide array of household products, including cleaning supplies, paint and paint strippers, pesticides and fuels, and are released when they are used and stored. Stavola Industries, which has an asphalt plant half a mile upstream from the BTMUA’s water intake valve, has been looked at as a possible source. Robert Karl, the MUA’s source water administrator, told the Township Council earlier this year that although perchloroethylene is not found in asphalt, it is found in cleaning solvents that may have been used in previous site operations. But Stavola Industries representatives have said that the contamination is coming from other sources along the Metedeconk River, which winds through Brick, Freehold, Howell, Jackson, Wall, Lakewood and Millstone. Only one-fifth of the Metedeconk’s 70-square-mile watershed lies with the township’s borders. Bottazzi said he would be remiss as the MUA chairman if he didn’t push for an investigation into the source of the volatile organic compounds. “Our water is still great and one of the best in the country,” he said. “But in 2016, I don’t want anyone to look back and say that Pat Bottazzi should have done something.”