When Keansburg's desalinization plant came on line at the end of March this year it ended an era: several decades of orange-brown water pouring from out faucets around the borough. Keansburg water was famously bad -- almost the definition of putrid. If anyone was comfortable with this situation it was no doubt the fine folks over at Poland Spring Water, which did remarkable business in town.
But, the Keansburg Borough Council did the hardest thing it could -- spend money to fix something that required consensus. George Hoff, Lisa Strydio, Anthony DePompa, Jimmy Cocuzza and Artie Boden served on the Borough Council and, three years ago, decided they were going to move forward with a water treatment plant. Desalinization plants are not routine in this state -- or any for that matter. In fact, on the East Coast there are only one or two others. And, the one other desalinization plant that was in the state broke down. So, what the Keansburg Council was doing was a risky gambit.
Keansbburg's governing body proceeded to get most of the $5 million needed for the project from grants. Still, any arm of government spending millions of dollars during the worst economy in recent history is going to draw fire. So, to say there were detractors for the idea of spending money on a barely used technology that was only infrequently found in public service was saying a lot. If the desalinization plant stalled, failed or broke down for any period of time, the political consequences of this would be astounding, and at the very least the political careers of everyone involved with this project would be over. Make no mistake, boondoggles do not go unnoticed in one-square-mile towns.
During the recent water crisis in the county, though, which was created by a ruptured pipeline along Swimming River Road, in Middletown, Keansburg was one of the few towns in Monmouth where boiling water was not required. In fact, once well-known for its poor water quality, Keansburg became one of the few places in Monmouth where it was fine to drink water from the tap.
So, what is the point to all this? I have always believed the vast majority of politicians simply do as little as possible to ensure their own political survival and nothing more. Because of the 24-hour news cycle, even locally, big public projects draw so much attention that it is far easier to do nothing about a problem and declare it unsolvable than to do the work and take the heat necessary to fix it.
America was once a place where people did big things -- were innovative, industrious and thought outside the box. By and large, it's not anymore, though. Playing it safe is the rule of the day, and what is lost is everything that makes sense. It is easier to silence critics through inactivity than with logic and that happens every single day in our halls of power around this county and country.
It took a lot of moxie to make Keansburg's desalinization plant a reality and the beneficiary is the residents of Keansburg. If there were more politicians with those principles in office today then our joint problems facing would, I assure, be a lot smaller than they currently are.
(Jim Purcell is a veteran journalist who formerly published The Courier, in Middletown. He holds a Master's Degree from the NY Theological Seminary and has been recognized for his work by, among others, the U.S. Congress, NAACP and 82nd Airborne Division Association-North Jersey Chapter.)
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