Greetings from Michael Kasparian, Chairman, Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority (NBCUA)

First, let me say, thank you for taking the time to view the NBCUA website and its volumes of information contained herein.

This website is put in place to provide a transparent overview of the Authority’s entire operation, where Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority’s member municipalities and their citizenry can view budgets, audits and other financial information; it also provides direct access to Authority meeting agendas and actual meeting minutes.  I believe this access provides a clearer understanding of the plants purpose and how daily business is being conducted here at NBCUA.

It is with great pleasure that I, along with our highly-dedicated NBCUA board members as well as the Authority’s staff, serve our member municipalities, by upholding a proud tradition of preserving a clean and safe environment through our dedication to the ecologically sound processing of wastewater, thereby being able to return fresh water to the natural environment from our public water treatment plant here in Waldwick, dating back to 1969. It is critical to note the fact that NO chemicals are added to the water in the process, which in the final purification step, is disinfected using ultraviolet light.

NBCUA currently provides service to eleven townships and boroughs in Bergen County, including: Allendale, Franklin Lakes, Ho-Ho-Kus, Mahwah, Midland Park, Ramsey, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, Waldwick, Wyckoff and portions of Ridgewood. Since operations began here, the plant has gradually expanded to allow nearly double its original capacity, serving some 75,000 residents at this time.

It is important to point out, that in addition to plant operations, NBCUA’s highly-trained cadre of technicians not only services but literally “keeps watch” over 31 miles of sewer lines in some cases using modern (live) televised inspection equipment in order to troubleshoot problems, thus maximizing their efforts to perhaps detect issues before they become significant problems. These dedicated individuals are there in our communities 24/7, 365 days a year, I thank them for their ongoing efforts and sacrifices.

In our ongoing effort to support additional energy conservation methods thereby reducing pollution, NBCUA utilizes its own on-site 334 kW Solar Power System helping generate electric power to operate the wastewater treatment equipment at the plant, which in addition to the environmental benefits, reduces power costs, ultimately passed along to our member municipalities.

I would also like to add a reference to two other critically important projects, first, recently completed incinerator emission upgrades and standby incinerator repairs here at the NBCUA plant in Waldwick. The projects funding originated from $7.9 million in loans from the NJEIFP, a joint low-rate funding program comprised of the DEP and NJEIT. Total savings to our ratepayers is estimated to be $2 million over 20 years, or 25% of the total project cost.

I am also very pleased to announce, that as part of its ongoing plant improvement projects here in Waldwick, we at NBCUA are planning the installation of a disk thickener, designed to thicken waste activated sludge by-products generated here at the plant. A main goal of this proposed improvement will help to improve sludge management, which in turn, most importantly, will help minimize the potential of odors emanating from the plant.

Thank you for once again visiting the NBCUA website.

Chairman Michael Kasparian