Vanderwater Water Draining Slowly

The N.J. Turnpike Authority says water levels at Vanderwater Court have gone down by 15 inches since yesterday, and three feet since Sunday.

“Our contractor today has installed a turbidity barrier. That’s a device that will keep any debris that’s floating in the water from getting near the mouth of the culvert. They’ll be using a crane with a clam shell today and tomorrow to pull debris out of the water,” said Thomas Feeney, Turnpike Authority Spokesman.

The N.J. Turnpike Authority has been working to remove a sound barrier from the turnpike to get access to the culvert, and is now working to remove debris from the water. However, Feeney said a clog might not be the cause of the area’s flooding. Rather, the problem could be that the 36-inch pipe is insufficient for the amount of rain that has fallen.

“Our engineers believe the culvert is simply overwhelmed by the volume of water,” said Feeney in an email. “Think of it this way: If you have an unobstructed inch-and-a-half pipe at the bottom of your bathtub, your bathtub is going to drain just fine. If you put the same pipe at the bottom of your swimming pool, your pool is not going to drain very well, even if the pipe is unobstructed. There just is not enough capacity in that 36-inch culvert beneath the Turnpike to drain the volume of water running through the neighborhood.”

He said the culvert was sufficient at the time the Turnpike was designed and built, but Hurricane Irene pushed it to the limit. He also said that with development in the area, the problem could have been caused by runoff from elsewhere in the township.

“We’re not saying at this point that the Turnpike does not have some responsibility for the flooding. We won’t be able to determine that until the water has receded. That’s when we’ll be able to do a drainage assessment to determine if the water in the neighborhood is run-off from the Turnpike or from other sources,” said in the email.