The proposed development at Hillside that borders Upper Saddle River includes the construction of a community mikvah containing 48 prep rooms and 6 ritual bathing pools.
What exactly is a mikvah?
Mikveh or mikvah is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity
This video give a clear understanding of the purpose.
Originating in Biblical times, with clearly defined guidelines the mikveh is required for various purposes for both men and women, is central to Judaism, is believed to contain waters from a divine source and has come along way from this:
To this:
As they are integral to Judaism they are found in many communities, and there are numerous mikvah in Bergen and Rockland counties.
Key elements of the mikvah are the source of water and volume. Traditionally the water source had to be ‘living’ water: river, stream, rainwater, snow melt. Water that came in a pipe was unacceptable. However, modern life has provided some adjustments.
The simplest requirement:
A mikvah must be filled with living waters from a flowing source that has never been dormant, such as fresh spring water, rainwater, or even melted snow.The water is kept under strict hygienic control,cleaned daily and chlorinated.
Source: Mikva.org
A more detailed description:
Briefly: A mikvah must be built into the ground or built as an essential part of a building. Portable receptacles, such as bathtubs, whirlpools or Jacuzzis, can therefore never function as mikvahs. The mikvah must contain a minimum of 200 gallons of rainwater that was gathered and siphoned into the mikvah pool in accordance with a highly specific set of regulations. In extreme cases where the acquisition of rainwater is impossible, ice or snow originating from a natural source may be used to fill the mikvah. As with the rainwater, an intricate set of laws surrounds its transport and handling.
The casual observer will often see only one pool—the one used for immersion. In reality, most mikvahs are comprised of two, sometimes three, adjoining pools. While the accumulated rainwater is kept in one pool, the adjacent immersion pool is drained and refilled regularly with tap water. The pools share a common wall that has a hole at least two inches in diameter. The free flow, or “kissing,” of waters between the two pools makes the waters of the immersion pool an extension of the natural rainwater, thus conferring upon the immersion pool the Halachah stipulates that one must be scrupulously clean before immersinglegal status of a mikvah.(The above description is one of two methods sanctioned by Halachah to achieve this goal.) Modern-day mikvahpools are equipped with filtration and water-purification systems. The mikvah waters are commonly chest high and kept at a comfortable temperature. Access to the pool is achieved via stairs. (Mikvahs accessible to the handicapped or infirm are equipped with lifts.)
Source: TheJewishWoman.org
A much stricter description:
The Water
All natural spring water, providing it is clean and has not been discolored by any admixtures is valid for a mikveh. With regard to rainwater, which is ideal for a mikveh, and melted snow and ice (even if manufactured from “drawn” water) which are also valid, care must be taken to ensure that the water flows freely and is not rendered invalid by the flow into it being stopped, thus turning it into “drawn water.” In addition the water must not reach the mikveh through vessels made of metal or other materials which are susceptible to ritual uncleanness. This is avoided by attaching the pipes and other accessories to the ground, by virtue of which they cease to have the status of “vessels.” Similarly the mikveh is emptied from above by hand, by vacuum, or by electric or automatic pumps. The emptying through a hole in the bottom is forbidden since the plug may be regarded as a “vessel” as well as giving rise to the possibility of a leakage.
There is, however, one regulation with regard to the mikveh which considerably eases the problems of assuring a supply of valid water. Once it possesses the minimum quantity of 40 se’ah of valid water even though “someone draws water in a jug and throws it into the mikveh all day long, all the water is valid.” In addition “if there is an upper mikveh containing 40 se’ah of valid water, and someone puts drawn water in the upper mikveh, thus increasing its volume, and 40 se’ah of it flows into the lower pool, that lower pool is a valid mikveh” (Yad, Mikva’ot 4:6). It is thus possible to exploit limitless quantities of valid water.
Various Forms of Mikveh
he above regulations determine the various kinds of mikveh which are in use. In rare cases where there is a plentiful supply of valid water, spring or rain- (or sea-) water which can constantly replenish the mikveh, the only desiderata which have to be complied with are to ensure that the water does not become invalidated by the construction of the mikveh, rendering it a “vessel” or by going through metal pipes which are not sunk in the ground, as detailed above.
Since, however, mikva’ot are usually constructed in urban and other settlements where such supplies are not freely available, the technological and halakhic solution of the valid mikveh depends essentially upon constructing a mikveh with valid water and replenishing it with invalid water, taking advantage of the fact that the addition of this water to an originally valid one does not invalidate it.
The following are among the systems used:
1. The basic mikveh consists of the minimum valid amount of 40 se’ah of rainwater. To this rainwater, ordinary water may subsequently be added through a trough which is absorbent, dug in the ground, or one made of lean concrete at least three handbreadths (c. 30 cm.) long, and one wide. Through this device the added water is regarded as coming from the ground and not through a “vessel.” The resultant mixture of both types of water passes into the mikveh through a hole in the dividing wall. Since the added water is regarded as “seeding” the original valid water, it is called the oẓar zeri’ah (“store for seeding”).
2. In a second system the added drawn water is not previously mixed with the rainwater, as in the previous case, but flows directly onto the basic rainwater mikveh through an aperture in the wall of the mikveh, the diameter of which must be “the size of the spout of a water bottle” (c. 2 in.; 5–6 cm., Mik. 6:7). This method is called oẓar hasnakah (“the store produced by contact”). Both the above methods, though they answer the halakhic needs, have their disadvantages in operation and in maintenance, particularly through the exhaustion of the rain-water and the stagnation of the standing water. The other systems are aimed at overcoming these drawbacks.
3. The “dut” is a cistern or tank built into the ground to store rainwater. When changing the water in the mikveh, it is filled each time with at least 21 se’ah of rainwater from the cistern and water is then added from the “store for seeding” by conduction. The water in the mikveh is brought into contact with the “contact store” by the method mentioned above. Though indeed this method overcomes the many shortcomings and halakhic problems, it nevertheless requires an extensive area for the cistern, and large areas of roof and pipes for filling with considerable amounts of rainwater in the winter.
4. Both a “store for seeding” and a “contact store” are built on each side of the mikveh. Each store has an aperture connecting its water with that of the mikveh.
5. A single “store” consisting of both “seeding” and “contacting.”
6. A “store” upon a “store.” A “contact store” is built on two stories joined by an aperture with the diameter of “the spout of a bottle.” The water of the mikveh is validated by means of the hole in the party wall between the mikveh and the upper “store.”
7. A “contact store” under the floor of the mikveh, connected by means of a hole the size of “the spout of a water bottle.”
The mikva’ot of Jerusalem as well as the oldest mikva’ot in other towns of Ereẓ Israel are built in general by the method of the “contact store” as well as by the “store of seeding.” In the new settlements and elsewhere the mikva’ot are built in the main only by the method of the “store of seeding” (a system approved by Rabbi A.I. Karelitz, the “Ḥazon Ish”). Latterly mikva’ot have been built by the method of two “stores.”
In recent years vast improvements have been made in the hygienic and other aspects of the mikveh. An early enactment, attributed to Ezra, that a woman must wash her hair before immersing herself (BK 82a) may be provided for by the now universal custom of having baths as an adjunct to mikva’ot, the use of which is an essential preliminary to entering the mikveh, and especially in the United States they are provided with hairdressing salons and even beauty parlors.
The regulations for constructing the mikveh are complicated and its construction requires a considerable knowledge of technology combined with strict adherence to the halakhah, and it should be built only after consultation with, and under the supervision of, accepted rabbinic authorities. Nevertheless in order to increase the use of this essential requirement of traditional Judaism, a book has been published which consists almost entirely of instructions for making a valid “Do it yourself ” mikveh (see D. Miller in bibl.).
If that isn’t enough information this might help.
Clearly the creation of a mikvah and how it is constructed and sourced is subject to an array of interpretation dependent on several variables. The question is – does this help to understand what is proposed at the Hillside project? What impact it will have and how it will affect the surrounding neighborhood and community? Particularly from the perspective of water as the local neighborhood is dependent on well water and septic?
The information provided by the engineering and surveying company in this project have stated:
Given the nature and needs of the project and the extremely limited wording from the surveying company this document has much room for interpretation – and application. It raises more questions than it answers and until detailed plans and descriptions are provided the impact on the neighborhood and surrounding community are unclear.