This Week at NJ21st: Sewer Plant Oversight in the Spotlight

Sep 13, 2025

This week’s newsletter starts with a disturbing review of documents a resident provided to NJ21st in connection with the Berkeley Heights Sewage Plant. The documents were obtained via FTP from a portal made available to bidders during the Township’s attempted sale of the plant and revealed a concerning breadth of DEP and DOL violations that presented risks to public health, property, and worker safety. We could find no record of the Township conveying the concerns identified by the DEP or DOL to the community.

The Mayor, Members of the Council, and Township Administrator were notified of each article by email, had questions presented to them, and have been offered an opportunity to comment — we have not heard back from any of them as of the writing of this newsletter.

Our first four articles covered the DEP violations and our fifth focused on the DOL concerns:

Berkeley Heights Sewage Plant Cited for Reporting and Environmental Violations

Second DEP Letter Cites Stormwater Violations at Berkeley Heights Sewage Plant

DEP’s Third Letter Flags Overflow Risks From Broken Sensors and Uncleaned Basins at Berkeley Heights Sewage Plant

Fourth DEP Notice Cites Berkeley Heights for Sewage Discharges into State Waters

Berkeley Heights Sewage Plant Cited for Safety Hazards and Boiler Violations

Finally, our Wiki has a section for all our articles on this topic, as well as a FAQ and entire source file.

BHFD Update BHFD Chief Hopkins provides the community with an update on the fire that occurred this week at the Highlands Complex.

NightWatch is Back We share a clip of our first NightWatch episode in a while. Laura discusses what she’s hearing from residents who are still dealing with the consequences of the July flood and hoping the rain holds off long enough for the Township to finally take action.

Falling Behind? The good news: NJ added jobs in July. After that, things may not be so promising — especially when compared to the rest of the country.

Community Voices John writes two articles: the first addressing the obsession with petty name-calling on the part of Township officials as a mask for an inability to respond to facts and as an excuse to avoid answering questions. The second voices the need to model civic engagement to prevent violence and protect democracy.

Voter Sentiment Surveys: A reminder that we are asking residents of New Providence and Berkeley Heights to help us inform candidates about the issues that matter to them. If you have completed the survey please consider sharing it with friends and neighbors who live in both communities. Responses are anonymous.