LAVALLETTE — In an early “Christmas present” for the borough, Lavallette announced Monday that it had received a $2.2 million federal grant for the construction of a new potable water well.
The $2.2 million federal grant, disbursed by the Ocean County Board of Commissioners, was awarded for the purpose of building a new well, Well 6.
Along with roughly $800,000 from other state and local sources, Mayor Walter LaCicero said that roughly $3 million of the approximately $5 million project, which has not yet begun, is paid for.
“We’ve been working on the well project for a number of years trying to find funding,” said LaCicero. “We were advised last week that the county, with some federal funds, has decided to give us an additional $2.2 million dedicated toward that well. I think we had $800,000 from other sources prior to that — that’s $3 million out of a $5 million project which will be funded by others.”
“I thought that was a great Christmas present for us,” he said.
Councilman Jim Borowski added that the money was secured pro bono by Morgan Engineering firm of Island Heights.
“Morgan Engineering, who we took on this year as an additional engineer for the borough, was instrumental in achieving success in that application; I want to make sure we recognize Morgan and thank them for the diligent work that we did,” LaCicero said.
The deterioration of the borough’s Well 3, which is heavily damaged due to nearly 80 years of continuous use, has gotten to the point where, each time the pump is turned on, thousands of gallons of water are lost, according to Mark Bean, vice president of water and wastewater at Van Cleef Engineering.
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