Sewer Work Could Save Township Thousands

Two contracts approved by the Township Council last week approved spending $186,000 on work aimed at saving a lot more.

The contracts will pay for inspection and repairs to sewers in Bradley Gardens and Finderne to eliminate water getting into the sewer lines—which the township then pays to treat at the Somerset-Raritan Valley Sewerage Authority treatment plant.

The work will correct any inflow and infiltration—known as "I&I"—and continues work the township has been doing in recent years, reducing the amount of storm water and storm drain leakage into the sewers, according to Township Administrator James Naples.

"To date, it has been very successful," Naples said. "The work we've done to date on I&I has reduced our bill with SRVSA for treatment of raw sewage by $400,000."

Thursday, the council approved a contract to Professional Consulting Inc., of Parsippany, to do the inspection, surveying and construction management of about 12,000 linear feet of sewer in the Bradley Gardens area at a cost not to exceed $104,900.

The council also approved an $81,100 contract to Johnson, Mirmiran and Thompson, of Sparks, Md., to do the same work on 10,000 linear feet of sewer lines in the Finderne area.

While both companies are new to working in Bridgewater, although Township Engineer Robert Bogart said the companies have done the same work in several nearby municipalities.