Information on Sewer Bills

By now most of you have received your annual Sewer Utility bill.   Because this is only the third year that we are issuing separate sewer bills, we want to remind you that the sewer fee is billed on an annual basis.  You will not be expected to pay this sum quarterly.

The funds collected through this billing are largely paid over to the Plainfield Area Regional Sewage Authority (PARSA).  This organization acts as a steward for the regional wastewater system and ensures there is a capacity for Fanwood users.  They also assure that the system meets all state and federal regulations and operates, inspects, and maintains existing assets.

Once the bill to PARSA is paid, the remaining money is held in a dedicated Fanwood Sewer Utility account to be reinvested into preventative maintenance projects.  These funds CANNOT be allocated to cover other municipal expenses.

The sanitary sewer system for the majority of the Borough is approximately 80-90 years old, which is the average life of the system.  It makes financial sense to be proactive with system upgrades, rather than reactive with emergency repairs as issues arise.  For that reason, since the fee was introduced, we have been including sewer lining in our road improvement projects to renew the life of our system at a fraction of the cost of emergency repairs.  We also initiated an ongoing sewer pipe cleaning of all sewer lines throughout the Borough, as required by NJDEP.  We are in year 2 of this 5-year program.

You can find out more about PARSA and the work they do for us at parsa-nj.org.