Three qualified water utilities are interested in Hopewell Borough’s potential sale of its water system.
After approving a resolution on Jan. 2, Borough Council accepted the qualifications of New Jersey American Water, Aqua New Jersey, and Veolia Water New Jersey, Inc.
“We reviewed their credentials, and our professionals did as well,” Council President David Mackie said. “We determined that all three meet the qualifications. They are now qualified to receive an actual request for proposal (RFP) because that is a two-step process.”
Council, in the same resolution, authorized the borough to issue RFPs to the three companies on the potential sale of the borough’s water system.
“…we will be releasing a RFP to those three companies for them to put together their possible interest and proposal for us to evaluate,” Mayor Ryan Kennedy said. “After tonight that would go out with a plan that we would have proposals back by the end of this month.”
When evaluating the proposals, borough officials would be able to choose one water company that they find worth it to discuss terms with and enter into negotiations.
“Following which if council believes that we can get to a place worth advancing we would essentially advance those terms to a point where we could potentially have a referendum on a potential sale in November of 2025,” Kennedy said.
“… Our goal was to have competition. Having three respondents is a great step towards that.”
In summer 2024, the borough entered the WIPA (Water Infrastructure Protection Act) process for the potential sale of its water system, which was approved by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).
WIPA authorizes certain owners of water or wastewater systems to enter into a long-term lease contract or sell their water or wastewater assets to a private or public entity.
To qualify for the WIPA process, Hopewell Borough needed to qualify for one of five emergent conditions.
NJDEP determined in June that Hopewell Borough qualified with emergent condition No. 3, which states “the present deficiency or violation of the maximum containment levels established pursuant to the Safe Water Drinking Act concerning the availability or potability of water, or concerning provision of water at adequate volume of pressure.”
Additionally, residents gathered 222 petition signatures by an Aug. 5, 2024 deadline to force a referendum vote before any potential sale.
