Oakland's $5.9M sewer project starts soon. Here's how it could affect you

Marsha A. Stoltz, NorthJersey.com
·3 min read

Work is about to begin on a $5.87 million sewer decommissioning project in Oakland intended to provide safe discharge of wastewater from areas now served by three aging treatment plants.

Contractor Pacific Construction began taking "test holes" June 20 in preparation for work to begin on sewer line installation at the intersection of Ramapo Valley Road and West Oakland Avenue, according to a robo call and a notice on the borough's website.

"After that concludes, a determination will be made for the official kickoff date of the work," the notice states.

The DEP originally fined the borough $795,224 for failure to maintain and monitor the system. This fine was lowered to $421,724 on condition that the borough comply with a stringent schedule to replace the treatment plants with pumping stations that will carry sewage to the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority connection point in Franklin Lakes.

Mayor Linda Schwager cautioned in her robo call that the lines are only intended to serve its current 215 residential and 20 commercial accounts. They will not provide long-sought service for the borough's central business district or other residents currently on septic systems.

The $5.7 million project will convert treatment plants at three locations to pump stations, and connect that flow via new sewer lines (green) to the Northwest Bergen County Authority in Franklin Lakes (far right). The plant service areas (pink) include Chapel Hill (upper left), Skyview (upper right) and Skyview (lower left).
The $5.7 million project will convert treatment plants at three locations to pump stations, and connect that flow via new sewer lines (green) to the Northwest Bergen County Authority in Franklin Lakes (far right). The plant service areas (pink) include Chapel Hill (upper left), Skyview (upper right) and Skyview (lower left).

However, the project will require four sewer line installations totaling 3.1 miles along some of the borough's busiest roads:

  • Franklin Avenue: 1.7 miles from Ramapo Valley Road to the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority connection at the Route 287 overpass in Franklin Lakes;

  • Ramapo Valley Road (Route 202): 0.6 miles from Franklin Avenue to East Oak Street, including part of the borough's central business district and the 0.2 mile western end of Yawpo Avenue, the primary access road to Indian Hills High School;

  • Hiawatha Boulevard: 0.6 miles from Mountain Lakes Road to Monhegan Avenue;

  • Lakeside Avenue: 0.2 miles from Forest Street to Franklin Avenue.

The borough expects to maintain "bi-directional" traffic during the "lengthy" installation, but that traffic will be "hampered by the construction."  No timeline or sequence of installations has been announced.

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The borough's engineer had advised in 2017 that the three plants dumping treated water into the Ramapo River were nearing the end of their useful life.

However, it was not until DeBlock Environmental took over operation of the plants that it was discovered the retiring licensed sewer operator had either "failed to conduct quarterly chronic monitoring and reporting" for long periods of time, or had employed testing methods that were "inadequate for determining compliance" with DEP standards.

When DeBlock conducted the tests in 2018, it reported:

  • Skyview Treatment Plant: E.coli effluent at 2,420 per 100 millimeters, when the maximum is 126 per 100 milliliters, one of 29 above-limit results.

  • Chapel Hill Treatment Plant: copper effluent at 32.73 micrograms per liter, when the limit is 7.57, one of 12 above-limit results.

  • Oakwood Knolls Treatment Plant:  E.coli effluent at 609 per 100 milliliters, when the maximum is 126, one of five above-limit results.

The DEP originally fined the borough $795,224 for failure to maintain and monitor the system. This fine was lowered to $421,724 on condition that the borough comply with a stringent schedule to replace the treatment plants with pumping stations that will carry sewage to the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority connection point in Franklin Lakes.

This was considered more cost effective than upgrading the existing plants or constructing a new plant in the borough, according to a September 2020 borough report on the project.

According to the report, sewer clients are not receiving a separate assessment for the repair project, and their annual sewer rates will remain "about the same."  Average residential annual sewer fees were projected to rise from $1,812 in 2022 to $1,839 in 2023, and $1,866 in 2024.

Marsha Stoltz is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stoltz@northjersey.com

Twitter: @marsha_stoltz

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Oakland NJ sewer project to replace aging treatment plants