Polio in Rockland County: How Safe is Upper Saddle River Well Water?

In our last article on Hillside Ave we described a host of problems that seem to be stemming from the changes the Town of Ramapo and the Village of Airmont are allowing on Hillside Ave. To recap: most of the residents bought homes on Hillside

Ave because of its rural nature and were single-family homes on large properties.

The Rockland County planners categorized this road as RR-50 a rural residential neighborhood. The infrastructure (roads, sewers, water, bridge, lighting) were built to support this type of zoning. Long-term residents were shocked when 3 separate proposals were filed in the Town of Ramapo and in the Village of Airmont for non-residential properties for uses few of the current Hillside Ave residents will use. All 3 applications are within 500 feet of each other. One is a special skills school for 250 students, a community mikvah which will have at least 99 patrons a

night visiting (6 nights a week) and the third application is a cemetery for which plans to have 10,250 grave sites on the 10 acres of land (over 1,000 graves per acre).

When the first application the Hillside Community Mikvah went before the Ramapo Planning and Zoning Boards several communities,numerous New Jersey

and New York residents and the Rockland County Planning board voiced their concerns about such large scale projects being built on such a rural block. This area had and continues to have major issues with enforcement. The local governments were doing little or nothing about the issues developers were bringing to this neighborhood. Several homes sold to LLC’s seemed determined to change the rural nature of this block. Hundreds of summons and tickets have been issued for trash, animal feces and “conditions that promote infestation”. 50+ animals were kept on one farm which is much more than what is allowed by code. 32 and 77 Hillside Ave had homes that were worked on and left unfinished or abandoned. 2 Hillside Ave was being used as a petting zoo, weekend retreat,reform school for boys and had several businesses there during the daytime.

However, there was no one actually living on the premises. There were so many drivers ignoring the 3 ton weight limit on the Hillside Bridge that it had to be

closed down. The sewers were so stressed that Upper Saddle River was awarded close to $1,000,000 in a lawsuit filed against the sewer officials in Rockland County.

𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩-1).

When work started on the site plans for the Cemetery and the Mikvah the residents were concerned about more flooding and sewer overflows. In the Mikvah’s Memorializing Resolution Site Plan and Special Use Permit (decision) “they do not believe there is any potential for any significant adverse environmental impact in the area of flooding.” Sadly, that has not been the case. Ira Emanuel, Attorney representing the applicant, accused CUPON and residents who expressed concern regarding a myriad of environmental and quality of life issues of trying to delay the project. Since approval of the Mikvah

and the Cemetery in August 2021 there have been 6 flooding events and 6 sewer overflows. Homes behind the Hillside Mikvah were flooded on 5/31/22

and 6/2/22 not just from the water but with dirt and construction runoff from the Mikvah job site.

On 4/8/22 manholes at the Saddle River pumping station overflowed and the flooding was so extreme that it covered the bridge. Did I mention that the Suez

(now Veolia) water purification system is about 20 feet from this bridge covered with raw sewage?

On 4/18/22 a neighbor reported a manhole on Hillside Ave overflowed in the middle of the night. No alert was sent out by the sewer company. In fact we know of 2 incidents where residents were not alerted about sewer overflows that made it to the Saddle River by Hillside in the past year.

Sadly, many of these sewer overflows coincided with the annual fly fishing event where the NJ Division of Fish and Game stocks the Saddle River several times for anglers to fish in April and May. How many of these fish were contaminated? Did any fisherman take home these fish and eat them? Do NJ residents even know about these issues going on upstream? Polio is traveling and infecting people

through wastewater in NY. As residents are fishing, playing and swimming in the Saddle River, this could be a huge health issue. All the residents on Hillside and in Upper Saddle River are on well water. Is the water safe?

𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝘁:

𝙝𝙩𝙩𝙥𝙨://𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝.𝙣𝙮.𝙜𝙤𝙫/𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙨/𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚/𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙤/𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧.𝙝𝙩𝙢?𝙛𝙗𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙙=𝙄𝙬𝘼𝙍

0𝙓𝙗𝙣𝙖𝙆𝙈𝙠𝙢𝙩𝙙𝙮𝘽𝙔𝙋𝙈𝙦𝙧0𝙑𝙤𝙛𝘾𝙉𝙎𝙮𝙯𝙑𝙜𝙠𝙈𝙇𝙂𝘼𝙅𝙉𝙣𝙥-𝙈𝙈𝙝𝙯𝙉𝙀𝙑8𝙢𝙣𝙭𝙂𝙭𝙥𝙆0𝙙𝙠

The sewer system is old and needs major upgrades to handle its current conditions. Hillside is on a sewer loop with Cherry Lane pumping station, the Saddle River pumping station and the Twin Lakes pumping station. If overflows are happening so frequently now how will these overflows be prevented when you add over 200 showers a night from the mikvah, 250 students (not including staff and residents) and then there is the biggest project of them all. The estimated

15,000 students plus staff expected at 236 Cherry Lane in Airmont (directly upstream from Hillside and on the same stressed sewer loop). There is a

settlement agreement that will allow two 73,000 sq ft buildings at the site of the school and they need to submit their application next year.

If 2 projects that are not even completed yet are causing so many issues on this street, what will happen when the 3rd is approved. How will they control flooding once they start covering the surfaces with parking lots greatly increasing storm-water runoff? The plan is to run a new water-main up Hillside Ave adding much more water to the area, although it’s very clear the area clearly cannot

handle what it has now.

Will Hillside Ave residents drinking water be safe once these projects are up and running? Where are all these government agencies that are supposed to protect residents and our environment? Who is to pay for the new water main on Hillside Ave and to remedy and repair damage from flooding to both public and private property?