Mystery pipe

As severe stream erosion has worn away his backyard during the past two-plus years, Heather Lane resident Ken Beck has had a side issue to worry about.

In between his residence and a next-door neighbor’s now uninhabitable home, a sink hole has developed. Beck has wondered whether the stream bank erosion is also the reason for his caving-in side yard, or if there’s another factor.

In recent days, the continued soil loss has revealed an old pipe leading out of the sink hole area and pointed toward the stream. Beck now questions whether it is coming from a decades-old waste disposal system such as a cesspool or septic tank. Could that system still be buried on the property from which Heather Lane was carved?

He surmises that is possible due to the pipe’s location and elevation. In the past, Beck has noticed broken pieces of what might have been the same pipe in the stream.

If the waste system was never shut down properly, is it now causing a sink hole? And does it create a problem for an intended fortification of the stream bank planned by Middlesex Borough?

The fortification project, using large, rebar-reinforced cement blocks is on hold. Recent wet weather has made a staging area on the Green Brook side of the stream useable by heavy equipment.

That delay could create yet another issue, according to Beck. He’s been told if it continues, the municipality’s state Department of Environmental Protection permit to conduct the work might expire. If so, the borough could be faced with having to obtain another permit.

Meanwhile, to attempt to get answers on the mystery pipe, Beck has resorted to perusing the minutes of mid-1980s Planning Board meetings. In 1986, the board approved the Heather Lane subdivision on the former Rankin property. Beck is checking to see if there was any mention in the minutes of a cesspool or septic tank.

Beck estimates that the pipe is six to eight inches in diameter. “It’s not a drainage pipe,” he said.

Beck and other Heather Lane homeowners – as well as others on nearby Holly Court – assert that the severe erosion on the stream banks began with Tropical Storm Ida in September 2021 and has continued since then.

The homeowners and borough officials claim the problem has been accelerated by a flood wall and pumping station constructed nearby as part of the Green Brook Flood Risk Management project.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has denied that, claiming the erosion would have occurred if the flood control project had not been conducted.

The borough has applied for a state grant of up to $5 million to permantly fortify a 200-foot long stretch to protect the Heather Lane and Holly Court homes. The cement block work that is waiting to get underway is considered a temporary fix.

Erosion has taken about 35 feet off the backyard of the condemned home adjacent to Beck. During the past six months alone, Beck estimates he’s lost 10 to 12 feet of his property.

Beck is hoping to find someone with access to ground penetrating radar who could survey the area near the now-exposed pipe.

“That pipe has to go somewhere, for it to be intact,” he said. “The (sinkhole) dip has to be caused by something.”

Reminder

Subscribe to Inside – Middlesex. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. It is absolutely free.