To the editor: All West Milford local papers have published information on the proposed development of 17 large houses, located on Virginia Lane, a new developer-constructed road, off of Wooley Road. Many complaints about the area’s ground water deficit had been made to the West Milford Planning board by residents whose homes neighbor this development, called “Green Valley Estates,” initially proposed by Kerry Green, and now actively being built by Braemar Construction. Neighboring residents told the planning board of deep wells with very low water yields, which have partial or full water-outages in drought years, and even in summer months during normal-precipitation years. It appears to be a violation of the West Milford Land Development Ordinances, that the West Milford Planning Board granted “Preliminary Approval” to this development without the developer performing the required well-tests. Two homes have now been constructed and thousands of trees have been cut down. Although the West Milford Environmental Commission specified that an inventory of the trees’ species should be performed prior to any tree cutting, the developer did not do that. The West Milford Planning Board granted the developer permission to do a 24-hour test of only one well after preliminary approval, although the West Milford ordinances specify that a 5-day well test should be done on every lot, and before preliminary approval, as the neighboring residents had requested. Let’s consider some of the well data that were provided by the developer’s hydrogeologist, Zelly of Maser Consulting (Flanders NJ), and critically reviewed by the planning board’s own hydro-geologist, Daniel Nachman of Raviv Associates. In addition to the main “pumping well,” four observation wells were drilled. In order to reach water, all five wells had to be drilled to depths between 550 and 900 ft. These are very deep, in comparison to many other West Milford wells that are typically about 150 feet deep. The well to be used as the “pumping well” yielded 12 gallons/minute. In contrast, the four observation wells had yields of 1.5 gpm; 4 gpm; 5 gpm and 8 gpm, three of which are quite poor, and would have difficulty supporting the needs of a family with two parents and three kids. The wells’ draw-down data indicated serious problems. When the main well was pumped, the water level of all four observation wells also went down, indicating that they were all interconnected. Thus, the 12 gpm supposedly found for the pumping well was likely due to that well also drawing water from the observation wells. E.g. When the pumping well had a 279 foot draw-down, an observation well also had a large draw-down of 208 feet. This connection among wells suggests that they would also be connected to the neighboring residential wells. Thus, if the 17 large homes were all built and used water in ways similar to most large homes (i.e., over 500 gallons per day), the neighboring residents would likely lose their drinking water within only a few years, as those folks clearly indicated to the West Milford Planning Board. The most serious problem observed was that after six days, none of the five wells had recovered to their pre-pumping water level. The planning board’s expert commented in his report that this inability of the aquifer to restore water to the wells at the same rate that they were pumped “would drain the aquifer.” This is the same problem revealed for the Eagle Ridge development, and the very reason why NJ DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell rejected Eagle Ridge’s well permit. The planning board’s expert also noted that the 24 hour well test was too short. There could not be any appropriate projection for well performance into future years. There could be no accurate evaluation of the connections among Green-Valley wells or of those wells to existing residential wells. What would happen when the neighboring residential wells go dry? What would happen when the 17 newly constructed wells go dry? If a home cannot get water, then it must be condemned. Who would be responsible? The developer has not posted any bonds to cover such an event. One must seriously question the ethics of the West Milford Planning Board, the West Milford Planning-Office Director, and the planning board attorney in permitting preliminary approval of this development without requiring well tests before such approval was granted. It appears that these township board members and officials care more about enriching the pockets of out-of-town developers than about the current residents’ homes continuing to have drinking water. Doris Aaronson West Milford