Traymore Manor Residents Must Disconnect from Wells

The Board of Supervisors held a public hearing at Wednesday night's meeting concering the adoption of an ordinance that would require all Traymore Manor residents with contaminated wells to disconnect and stop using the water from them.

The township was required to pass the ordinance in order to receive the $2 million DEP grant, which will pay for the installation of public water lines.

There are 107 properties that fall under the ordinance's domain. Residents at those properties have 90 days to allow connection to public water and after that point they forgo the use of grant money to cover those costs. The township must inform residents 30 days before the window of time has lapsed, according to the ordinance.

All wells must be disconnected because the contaminants can be transmitted through water vapor and contact, like through watering grass and plants. Additionally, no new wells may be constructed except those for groundwater investigation or remediation.

Several residents stood up during public comment to protest the closing of all wells in the affected area.

"There's a lot of perfectly safe uses," Holland resident Bill O'Neill said. "If somebody wants to use the water ... I'd like to see that choice left up to the residents."

Township Solicitor Michael Savona noted that the DEP only allows exemptions for certain uses like for watering livestock, of which there are none in the affected area, and residents must submit to the DEP themselves. 

"They're just not going to allow people to subject themselves, and their visitors, to their property's TCE contamination," Chairmain Frank Rothermel said.

The ordinance passed 5-0.