Politics Fueled Outcry Over Sewage Spill, Utility Director Says

Joe Keating, Haddonfield's director of utilities, said this week he thinks the upcoming borough Board of Commissioners election played a role in publicizing a

"Because it's election time, people are getting all involved saying 'They're allowing this toxic waste to get spewed all over.' No we're not," Keating said this week. "If it happens, we clean it up. Nobody wants to have sewage overflowing. It's crazy to even make people think that."

Keating said he thought the spill got "blown way out of proportion."

The borough commissioners, his bosses, don't share his view.

"No borough official ever told me about any back up or spill until just a couple of days ago," Jeff Kasko, a borough commissioner running for reelection, said this week. "I'm not too happy to hear about this now—two months after the fact. It's not good and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

Kasko said disciplinary measures are being considered for Keating for not immediately reporting the spill to borough officials or county and state health and environmental officials, and for not cleaning it up until a public outcry last week after complaints of a foul stench and pictures surfaced of sewage still spread across the remote wooded area.

The state Department of Environmental Protection also didn't share Keating's view. It issued a warning this week about the borough not immediately reporting the spill and a cleanup with up to 2,500 gallons of water used to flush out the blockage that originally caused the spill.

"We don’t know how much waste was discharged, but it clearly flowed into a stormwater drainage ditch that flows into the Cooper River, probably no more than two-tenths of a mile away," said Larry Hajna, a DEP spokesman. "It is highly probable that the river was impacted."

The DEP said the borough sewer department was mandated to develop a plan to ensure the line is maintained and kept clear of blockages.

Keating said his department works hard to keep the line clear but its location in a remote, wooded area that's prone to flooding makes it difficult. He said sewer backups are not uncommon in Haddonfield and just about any other town with aging infrastructures.

"It happens all the time," Keating said this week before he was reprimanded by Kasko and two other borough commissioners, including Ed Borden, who is also running for reelection. "It’s election time and the opposition is taking advantage of a bad situation."

The commissioners are the borough's highest elected officials. The election is Tuesday.