Editor’s Note: The special town hall meeting scheduled for July 31 in Hopewell Borough to discuss the sale of the water system has been postponed due to weather.
As Hopewell Borough prepares for a November referendum on whether to sell its municipal water system, New Jersey American Water (NJAW) opened the gates of its Canal Road Water Treatment Plant for a tour—offering a behind-the-scenes look at how the utility delivers clean drinking water to millions of New Jersey residents daily.
NJAW is a subsidiary of American Water and is the largest regulated water utility in the state, providing water and wastewater services to approximately 2.9 million people.
Located at the confluence of the Millstone and Raritan Rivers in Somerset County, the plant is one of two major facilities that power NJAW’s Central Operating Region. Together with the Raritan-Millstone (RM) plant in Bridgewater, the system currently delivers about 180 million gallons of treated water per day under peak demand, with an additional 90 million gallons in reserve capacity for emergencies, interconnections, and system resiliency. The plants together serve customers in seven counties: Essex, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, and Union.
“This facility alone has a firm capacity of 80 million gallons a day,” said Frank Marascia, NJAW’s Senior Production Manager. “We are currently peaking at about 180 million combined systemwide.”
The tour is part of NJAW’s ongoing public engagement in advance of the town hall meeting tonight, July 31, in Hopewell Borough, where residents will hear more about the proposed $6.4 million sale of the Borough’s water utility. The deal, if approved by voters in the November 4 election, would shift system ownership and management to NJAW and result in major capital investments, rate structure changes, and the elimination of the Borough’s long-standing water utility operations.
A Modern Process at Massive Scale
Commissioned in 1997, the Canal Road plant uses conventional water treatment methods—coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration—enhanced with ozone pre-treatment and granular activated carbon. Final disinfection is completed with chloramine before water is distributed to storage tanks and pressurized systems across the state.
“It’s a six-to-eight-hour journey from river to tap,” Marascia explained. “Every drop of water passes through a series of chemical and physical steps to make sure it meets quality standards.”
The facility is staffed 24/7, with round-the-clock monitoring via a centralized system that tracks every pump, tank, and sensor in real time. “This room is staffed 365 days a year,” said Marascia from the plant’s control center. “There’s a reason why you can flush your toilet at 2 a.m. and have water—there are people here.”
Canal Road is designed for redundancy, with key components like pumps and mixers installed in triplicate to ensure uninterrupted operation. The plant is also classified as “zero-discharge,” recycling its own filter backwash water and using solar panels to offset 5–8% of its energy use.
Hopewell’s System: Small Scale, Big Costs
Hopewell Borough’s water system serves about 2,000 residents and includes 10.5 miles of pipe, 77 hydrants, and three wells. In recent years, it has faced steep challenges, including staffing limitations, aging infrastructure, and PFAS contamination in one of its primary wells.
According to Borough officials, the proposed sale would:
The transition would be minimal for most customers. NJAW already supplies about 70% of the Borough’s water through an existing interconnection.
“We provide 70% of the water currently because they’ve had to shut down their wells,” NJAW President Mark McDonough said in an earlier interview. “So, it would be quite seamless.”
McDonough said NJAW is well-positioned to support communities like Hopewell.
“Smaller towns like Hopewell Borough face a lot of challenges—not just from emerging contaminants like PFAS, which was a big driver on this, and lead service lines, which is a secondary driver—but also just basic recapitalization and being able to be successful in the operation of a water utility,” he said. “We’ve helped a number of communities, and we really are a solution provider.”
PFAS, Fire Protection, and Rate Impacts
The Borough estimates that the sale would save most households about $630 per year, based on usage of 15,000 gallons per quarter. However, low-use households may pay more under the new structure—about $115 annually—a concern the Borough is reviewing through possible sewer rate adjustments.
If the sale proceeds, NJAW would also begin charging new fees for public and private fire protection. The Borough would pay approximately $13,860 per year for hydrant access, while buildings with sprinkler systems would be billed directly.
NJAW also assumes full responsibility for replacing lead service lines by the state-mandated deadline of July 2031, with those costs distributed across NJAW’s statewide customer base.
On the issue of PFAS and other contaminants, McDonough said the company is already in compliance with state standards and is planning ahead.
“We’ve always met or surpassed the standards that the state sets,” he said. “We’ve actually won awards for our PFAS treatment… and we already treat for [unregulated contaminants] like 1,4-dioxane.”
According to a company fact sheet, NJAW began implementing PFAS removal systems as early as 2012—years before statewide limits were established. In addition to using Granular Activated Carbon (GAC), the company has deployed newer ion exchange resin systems at multiple well stations to address both long- and short-chain PFAS compounds.
Environmental Monitoring and Resilience
In 2022, the Canal Road plant faced an unusual harmful algal bloom (HAB) on the Millstone River. In response, NJAW now uses drone surveillance, predictive modeling, and coordination with state agencies to detect potential blooms early.
“We started doing daily flyovers during the 2022 event,” Marascia said. “It worked so well we made it part of our standard operating procedure.”
The company also partners with groups like The Watershed Institute, which McDonough cited as part of NJAW’s commitment to environmental education and source water protection.
“We do a lot of work through our grant programs to fund groups like The Watershed Institute,” he said. “It’s about reaching people ahead of the challenges.”
What Happens Next
If approved by voters, the sale will still require approvals from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and the Division of Local Government Services.
Residents can learn more at a town hall meeting tonight, Thursday, July 31 at 7:00 p.m. at Hopewell Borough Hall. The meeting will also be streamed and recorded. Representatives from NJAW’s Operations, Water Quality, Engineering, Rates, and Government Affairs departments are expected to attend and take questions.
Editor’s Note: The special town hall meeting scheduled for July 31 in Hopewell Borough to discuss the sale of the water system has been postponed due to weather.
The public referendum will appear on the November 4, 2025 general election ballot.
More information, including the draft purchase agreement and rate comparisons, is available on the Borough’s dedicated website: hopewellboro-nj.us/water.