Sussex approves report payment

SUSSEX BOROUGH — The Sussex Borough Council unanimously approved $8,500 to Houser Engineering, LLC, for a Comprehensive Technical Assistance Report. This is the last of three reports and expenditures mandated by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

In a letter dated June 25, 2014, the state DEP required three reports. The other two mandated requests were: a Comprehensive Performance Evaluation, costing $10,278, and a report to demonstrate Technical, Managerial and Financial Capacity, which cost the borough $4,750.

The three reports were in response to turbidity — the cloudiness resulting from dirt spiking up in the water — from January 2011 to February 2014 at the Sussex Water Utility. Readings exceeded 2 Nephelometric Turbidity Units during: Aug. 2011, Sept. 2011, Dec. 2011, Jan. 2012, and Jan. 2014. High turbidity is determined through two consecutive readings, 15 minutes apart, within one month.

On Dec. 17, 2013, the Council spent $43,000 for a cartridge filter system to lower the turbidity in question.