Out of an abundance of caution, township residents are being urged to boil their water before use until further notice in the wake of a major water main break on the Newark-Belleville border in Branch Brook Park.
Because of the major water main break, some residents may be experiencing discolored water, and others may have low water pressure or no water.
Mayor Michael Melham, Township Business Administrator Anthony Iacono and other Belleville officials are working to gather more information.
Melham has been on the scene and is coordinating with Sen. Teresa Ruiz, Gov. Phil Murphy’s office and his neighboring mayoral counterparts.
As per the governor’s office, Melham is asking Belleville’s Office of Emergency Management to make a request of bottled water to be distributed if the situation cannot be addressed in a timely fashion.
The Newark Water Department, which operates the pipe, is also on site.
Members of the Belleville Fire Department are working to pump the discharged water to a safe basin near Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville.
Also, Township Engineer Thomas Hertis is coordinating efforts with Newark officials to divert more water to Belleville users.
More information will be provided here and on the township’s website and Facebook page as it becomes available.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.