Visual inspections have led to the discovery of two Red Bank properties believed to have contributed to the high levels of fecal coliform in the Navesink River reported earlier this year, the Asbury Park Press reports today.
One of the properties is “behind the WaWa store on West Front Street,” where a septic system with holes in it was discharging waste into a gully with a stormwater system pipe in it, the Press reports. The other is a home on the Sea Land Marina property on West Front Street river side of NJ Transit North Jersey Coast Line.
The owners of the home behind the WaWa have been issued a court order to connect the property to the borough’s sanitary sewer system, the Press reports. The owners of the second property, who were using a septic tank because no municipal sewer line is in that location, are now seeking state approval for an above-ground holding tank. In the meantime, the owner is having the existing tank pumped out daily, the Press reports.
From the story:
The two properties are close to stormwater outfall pipes and locations identified in a January report by the state Department of Environmental Protection of what happens to fecal coliform levels after heavy rainfalls.
Borough Public Works officials found the two properties while checking land around the stormwater outfall pipes after rain storms, said Stanley J. Sickels, borough administrator.
“We identified two sources, and we’re waiting for others to be investigated,” Sickels said. “We found them through visual inspection.”
Borough officials also checked records to determine if the properties in question were connected to the borough sewer system.
“Where we found record of no connection, the DPW found the septic tanks and found they were visibly overflowing,” he said.