Herald & Unlern 13 January '8J

Abating Pollution Starts-

(From Pagel)

year.

The difference represents the cost of pollution abatement, which is what the MUA’s $48 million facility here is designed to accomplish. The user cost here, then, may be viewed as a precursor of the expense othere will face in the years to come as MUA treatment plants go on line alohg the, Jersey Cape. THE POLLUTION ABATEMENT charge — i.e., the cost of building and maintaining the MUA facilities — will surely increase, so the cost of the initial plant here in Ocean City can be viewed only as a Very conservative approximation of how touch sanitary treatment of human's wistes in the rest of the county will cost

down the road.

Yet even the approximations have caused a major controversy, with an official like Cape May City manager Fred Coldren indicating recently that the tremendous irw crease in utility rates for treating Sewage could have an adverse political effect - i.e., the tounicipal governing body (the taxing district) could unfairly be blamed by the taxpayer for the steep increase in the local water and sewer bill. THAT'S BECAUSE USERS won’t pay a sewer bill to the MUA. Rather they will be billed, as currently, by whatever agency it is that supplies the water utility. In the case of users receiving city water in the Greater Cape May area south of the Cape May Canal, it is the City of Cape May Water and Sewer Utility (the City, for alL intents and purposes). In Ocean City and some other areas of the county, the billing agency is a private utility. In the case of Ocean City, that utility is the New Jersey Water Co. At its meeting last Wednesday night, the county MUA established the system of charges to pay the expenses of operating the new treatment plant. The MUA set the estimated cost for ‘regional conveyance and treatment services" this year at $2.4 million which, it said, translates according to the private water utility to an average of $130 per residential user. THE DIFFERENCE between the $130 and the $182 figuce is the former is only the MUA cost while, the later takes into account the estimated $52 maintenance costs to the private utility for its collector system and services. These figures are based on the average single-family household in Ocean City consuming some 7,500 cubic feet of water annually. .At.the same MUA meeting, it was noted that efforts are continuing to resolve the dispute between the authority and the City of Cape May over the proposed user charge — which is based on wastewater

flow records.

\"Our review of the sewage flow data

Hospital

Burdette Tomlin Hospital will break' ground in the spring/or construction of a five-story "patient tower" as part of a $33 million expansion and^ modernization. To acquaint readers with this most ambitious public service construction project in the county's history and to coincide with a $1.5 million public fund drive, a series of capsulized questions and answers will appear periodically:

What are'the major components of the construction project? A. The five-story patient tower to be built on the east side of the existing hospital will include, by floors: Ground floor — support services and storage space, both now inadequate; First floor — new hospital entrance and lobby along with administration dept, and new ‘Cheeri Corner,’ and modern, expanded surgical dept, including three surgical suits, endoscopy and recovery rooms; Second floor — modern 16-bed combined Intensive and Coronary Care Unit along with a 24-bed ‘step down unit’ for patients who require monitoring but not special nursing care; Third & Fourth floors - each will have)46 modem patient beds, most in semi ^private rooms. Capsule

reported by the city during the past three years indicates that there are significant discrepancies in the results." said George Marinakis. executive MUA director, "and therefore have concluded that this information can only be considered as highly suspect ahd unreliable"’ WHAT IS RELIABLE is the certainty that inflation and rising construction costs will make the operation of the other regional MUA Plants yet to be built more expensive than the one which began opera lions here this week. Actually, some of those operations began last week. When the Inst pump stopped working in New Jersey Water Company's 32nd St. pumping station on Jan. 4, the MUA started up one of its new pumping station immediately The MUA system includes the treatment plant, force mains and mile-long ocean outfall. Together, the new system is designed to abate pollution in the backbay waters where the two existing plants in Ocean City have been discharging. mH t *

Dumping ‘Retreat— (From Pagel) D’Amours (D-NH), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oceanography. "I do not believe the will of Congress should be thwarted by Administrative fiat, or meek acquiescence to the holding of a single lower court judge. -i CONGRESS PASSED THE ocean dumping law in 1977, with the Clear purpose of strengthening the EPA's legal authority to get municipalities out of the ocean. The ban was to have taken effect Dec. 31,1981, and most municipalities have already stopped dumping' in the ocean. However, U.S. Districl Court Judge Abraham Sofaer of New York ruled last April that New York City and other municipalities could continue to dispose of their sewage sludge in the ocean after the deadline, despite the federal law. Hughes and other congressmen urged EPA Administrator Anne Gorsuch to appeal that decision, but Gqfsuch denied their request last week. "EPA's decision to hide behind Jiidge Sofaer’s decision represents a gross abandonment of its legal responsibility to enforce those Acts of Congress which are intended to protect the public health, safety and environment," Hughes said in a press release. "I AM VERY concerned that Judge Sofaer's opinion, combined with EPA's refusal to appeal, will set our nation back many years in our efforts to eliminate the cesspools that exist off our shores Moreover, this policy could open the floodgates to additional dumping by municipalities which never even considered this obnoxious practice before,” he continued. Washington, D C. has already applied to the EPA for a permit lo dump up to 700 tons of sewage sludge per day in the ocean off the coast of New Jersey. In addition, Hughes said, other municipalfties like Philadelphia, which had ceased ocean dumping off Cape May in response td the federal law, are now eyeing a return to the ocean, in view of EPA’s relaxed policy According to the Ocean City congressmen. reasons for the ocean dumping law continue to be very compelling. He said the New York Bight region, where most of the sludge is dumped, has become a virtual dead sea. In addition, ocean dumping contributes to fish kills, algae blooms, fouling of beaches, and loss of fish and shellfishing areas, he said. Kero Labeling (From Pagel) A VETERAN OF THE oil business told a Hurley staffer many people use sulphureous K-2 get headaches, snuffi/iess, and upper respiratory disturbances "I have asked the state to consider a label at the retail level to alert the public to the differences in white kerosene. I am convinced a positive health hazard exists and there should be an information campaign by the proper authorities both public and private "There has been a tremendous upsurge in the use of portable space heaters and I believe the danger to the public health from in-house air pollution is extremely serious when the wrong fuel is used." the Cape-Cumberland legislator said in a news release.

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$86 MILLION IN ASSETS ALL DEDICATED TO MAKING YOUR MONEY MAKE MONEY

FIFTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT CAPE MAY COUNTY SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATION YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31,1981 ASSETS Mortgage Loans : Direct Reduction Loans $ 73,600,585 95 Mortgage Loans - FHA Loans 1,219,293.68 Property improvement Loans 376,822.96 Account Loans 1,590,367.90 Real Estate Owned None Stock In Federal Home Loan Bank 669,800.00 Cash on Hand and In Banks 1,141,239.40 Investments ■ Other ... 5,513,874.89 Office Building (Less Depreciation) • • • 1,714,542.81 Furniture, Fixtures, etc. - net 145,326.70 Prepayment Secondary Reserve F.S.L.I.C 51,912.43 Accrued Interest Investment Securities , . 32.140.73 Other Assets t 120.924.62 $ 86,176,832.07 LIABILITIES Members' Savings and Investment Accounts $ 79.864,034.57 Borrowed Money . . None Loans In Process 261.770.00 Specific Reserves 88.234.7.1 Other Liabilities 702.83399 Deferrdd Credits 33,249.56 Reserves and Undivided Profits..'. i 5,226,709.24, , $ 86,176.832.07 BOARD OF DIRECTORS George M. James • Chairman

Calvin L. Black Elvln D. Bailey J. Douglass Corson Robert F. Garrett, III

Louis H. Grlesbach, Jr. David C. Ingersoll, Jr. Gregory C. Mason Paul M. Scull

Philip A. Shields Frank W. Strohm Gordon M. Thomson Russell Weatherby

Cape May County pavings & Loan ^ Association

HOME OFFICE 7 North Main Street Cape May Court House. N.J. 08210 BRANCH OFFICES 3301 Atlantic Avenue, Wildwood, N.J 08260 517 Washington Street, Cape May, NJ. 08204 1899 BayShore Road, Villas, N.J 06251 40 S Shore Road. Marmora, N.J 08223 301 ASbtJry Avenue. Ocean City, N J. 08226

<=3 tOUNHOUtlN LENDER