BY JUSTIN ZAREMBA
The Record
STAFF WRITER
HALEDON — A federal loan of $1.4 million will fund sewer line repairs to end a neighborhood’s long-running nightmare of sewage-flooded basements.
U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr, announced the loan on Wednesday, saying the federal money would allow the borough to start accepting bids for repair jobs in March.
Mayor Domenick Stampone called the announcement “very exciting news” and noted that although the loan has a 20-year payback schedule, it would require no interest payments.
Storm water backups involving deteriorated sewer lines, which in some sections are more than 100 years old, have caused raw sewage to back flush into homes near Roe Street during heavy rains for at least the past three decades. Sewer lines beneath parts of Roe, North 13th and North 15th streets and Bernard and Haledon avenues are prone to rainwater infiltration, causing human waste to flood basements.
Borough officials, meanwhile, have maintained the cash-strapped municipal government could not meet the expense of full repairs.
Last summer, an investigation by The Record and Herald News found the problem widespread, with some residents pumping the raw human waste out of basements into public storm sewers and consequently into public waterways. Alerted to the situation, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) stepped in and compelled the borough to find a solution to the problem.
The borough has adopted a $2 million bond ordinance to replace the sewer lines. The ordinance permitted the borough to sell bonds at any time to pay for the project, but the council instead applied for federal stimulus funds. It also sought a $750,000 grant through the state for the repair, but was denied due to the current $1 billion shortfall in the state budget. It is receiving the federal loan in a second round of stimulus fund approvals for wastewater management projects.
“I am very pleased that the people of Haledon can look forward to these repairs finally getting underway,” said Pascrell, D-Paterson. “Upgrading this aging infrastructure is yet another example of how the federal Recovery Act is working for Americans. Haledon residents will be rid of the unsanitary conditions they have tolerated for far too long.”
Paul Brubaker, a spokesman for Pascrell, said the borough would be able to borrow up to 75 percent of the funds needed for the repairs with no interest due to increased funding for the EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund. The funds is a federal program for wastewater management, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Without the federal stimulus, the borough would only be able to borrow up to 50 percent of the necessary funds, Brubaker said.
Brubaker said the borough was “tentatively approved” for up to $1.4 million, but there was a “strong possibility” the final amount could reach $1.5 million. The total estimated cost of repairs is $1.8 million.
The borough will begin receiving the monthly payments, administered by the DEP, in March, Brubaker said.
The emerging picture of a neighborhood trapped in a sanitation nightmare brought extended, and unwanted, publicity to the borough last summer. That publicity included several residents stepping forward to detail their individual cases, bringing to light a hidden problem that officials acknowledged reached back at least 30 years — some residents estimated 50 years.
Those residents could not be reached for comment Wednesday on the loan arrangement and prospect of repairs. But reflecting Wednesday on the wave of publicity, Stampone said he believed it benefited residents despite criticism of the borough.
“In hindsight, I think the press probably helped us,” Stampone said. “It sent the message, and our federal officials heard us loud and clear.”
