Residents see area streams vanishing! How much more water can
they pump before they lose the remaining streams forever?

Fact Sheet Crestwood Village Water Company Seeks additional 95 Million Gallons

Navigate this issue: Fact Sheet Report on the public hearing What can you do? PPA Hearing Request PPA's Oral Testimony PPA's Written submission Article in PPA's newsletter April-May 2003

The Crestwood Village Water Company is requesting that it be allowed to remove an additional 95 million (95,000,000) gallons of groundwater per year from beneath Whiting, Manchester Township in order to fuel more and more development. If the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) allows this to happen, the Crestwood Village Water Company (CVWC) will be allowed to pump up to 12.8 million gallons per month from the shallow water table aquifer.

This is the same water table aquifer that provides over ninety (90) percent of the water for local ponds, lakes and streams in the Whiting section of the Pinelands. Even consultants hired by CVWC admit that removing this much water would reduce the flow in a number of local streams. The streams that would lose water according to the water company experts would include: Michael’s Branch, Davenport Branch, Wrangle Brook and the Toms River. Local ponds and Keswick Lake would also be affected. If you noticed streams in the area drying up over the past few years, you haven’t seen anything yet. Wait until an additional 95,000,000 gallons of water per year are removed from beneath Whiting. The NJDEP needs to hear from you before February 11, 2003 to prevent further damage to the Pinelands National Reserve in Manchester Township.

• Since 1990 the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has allowed the Crestwood Village Water Company to pump 485 million gallons of groundwater per year, and up to 61 million gallons per month. This new request, if granted by the NJDEP would allow 580 million gallons per year and up to 73.8 million gallons per month. This is a 17 percent increase.
• The additional water will be used for the expansion of existing developments and the construction of new developments. Some of these projects include but are not limited to: Whiting Clinic, Crestwood Manor, CVS Pharmacy, Manchester Shopping Center, Meadows West, Manchester Presbyterian Homes, Kokes Organization-Brandywine, Country Walk, Cherry Street Property, and miscellaneous developments (200 units). This is only what is planned just for the next few years!
• The Crestwood Village Water Company takes all of its water from eight (8) shallow Kirkwood-Cohansey wells. Each of these wells can pump from 300 gallons per minute to 750 gallons per minute. When all of the wells are running the amount of water removed from beneath Whiting is 4,200 gallons per minute.
• The CVWC has increased the amount of groundwater it has removed eight (8) of the past nine (9) years. During 1993 the annual demand was 415.0 million gallons. That amount has increased to 520.8 million gallons in 2001. This is an average annual increase of 13.2 million gallons per year.
• The New Jersey Geological Survey (NJGS) estimates that groundwater levels beneath streams in the area of Crestwood Village would drop an average of 1.5 feet to 0.5 feet. This will result in less water flowing into Keswick Lake, and small streams and tributaries going dry.
• The NJGS and the water company’s consultant estimate that area streams will lose approximately 316,800 gallons per day or 9.5 million gallons per month. These streams and wetlands support rare, threatened and endangered species of plants and animals.
• There are approximately 997 domestic wells in the area that are also located in the shallow aquifer that could be affected by removing an additional 95 million gallons of water per year from beneath Whiting. Most of these wells are use for lawn irrigation.
• In it’s draft report on the application, NJDEP did not even mention -much less analyze- the impact greater withdrawals would have on the Pinelands ecology of this area!

Thanks to the hundreds of residents who responded to our first call to action we convinced the NJDEP to hold a public meeting to allow residents to voice their concerns about this expansion.

Approximately 400 people turned out on a freezing cold morning in January to voice their concerns to NJDEP. PPA provided oral and written testimony to NJDEP. These documents are available as PDF files from the links box above.

Thank you to all who attended the hearing and who submitted comments to the DEP in response to this issue.
We will keep you updated as developments happen.

For more information, please contact Pinelands Preservation Alliance at (609) 894-8000 or rich@pinelandsalliance.org