COURT HOUSE –– Cape May County is a peninsula surrounded by the salty waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware Bay.

Those who live here are like the sailor lost at sea in poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s epic The Rime of the Ancient Mariner who said, “Water, water everywhere. Nor any drop to drink.”

How is it then that when you turn on your kitchen spigots – fresh, cool, potable water pours out?

There are two possible sources for these supplies, surface water and ground water.

Surface water is water that has collected in a stream, river, lake, wetlands or oceans. Ground water is water that has seeped from the surface into one of five layers of sand and gravel containment areas known as aquifers.

While there are some businesses – particularly farms for irrigation – that use surface water, most homes and businesses in this county are supplied with water pumped from wells drilled into the ground.

The five fresh water aquifers in Cape May County are the Holly Beach water-bearing zone, estuarine sand aquifer, Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer, Rio Grande water-bearing zone and the Atlantic City 800-foot sand.

Public water utility companies draw water from all of these aquifers while homeowners with private wells generally draw from the shallower water-bearing zones.

While saltwater intrusion has become a problem in the southern part of the county, the Cohansey aquifer is estimated to contain over 17 trillion gallons of some of the purest water in the country, according to the Pinelands National Reserve Web site.

Here’s where the water comes from in your neck of the woods:

• Avalon – the borough works with New Jersey American Water to provide users with water from five wells in the Atlantic City 800-foot sand and also purchases water from the Stone Harbor Water Department.

• Cape May – the city’s water comes from five wells in Kirkwood-Cohansey and Atlantic City aquifers that’s then treated in the region’s first reverse osmosis water treatment plant. The desalination facility was completed in 1998 when saltwater intrusion had contaminated the city’s wells.

• Cape May Point – the borough purchases water from Cape May.

• Dennis Township – the community is served entirely with private wells. It has no public water utility.

• Lower Township – the municipal utilities authority here has four wells in the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer and also purchases water from Cape May.

• Middle Township – water customers in this township receive water from several different providers.
Those in Burleigh, Court House, Swainton and Whitesboro receive water services from New Jersey American Water county system, which has four wells in the Atlantic City and Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifers.
Avalon Manor is served by Middle Township Water District 1, which has two wells in the Atlantic City aquifer.
Stone Harbor Manor purchases water from the New Jersey American Water Neptune system.
Those in Rio Grande receive service from Wildwood Water Department.

• North Wildwood – the city is served by the Wildwood Water Department.

• Ocean City – New Jersey American Water’s Ocean City system consists of 11 wells in the Kirkwood-Cohansey and Atlantic City aquifers.

• Sea Isle City – the city has five wells in the Atlantic City 800-foot sand aquifer.

• Stone Harbor – the borough has four wells in the Atlantic City aquifer and also purchases water from Avalon.

• Upper Township – New Jersey American Water’s Strathmere system provides water from two wells in the Atlantic City aquifer and also purchases water from Sea Isle City.

• West Cape May – water here is purchased from Cape May.

• West Wildwood – water here is purchased from Wildwood.

• Wildwood – located in Middle Township the city’s water utility has 16 wells in the Rio Grande, Kirkwood-Cohansey, estuarine sand and Holly Beach aquifers.

• Wildwood Crest – Wildwood provides water service here.

• Woodbine – the municipal utilities authority here has two wells in the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer.

The list above is by no means complete.

Several mobile home communities, for instance, have their own community water systems. Also, in addition to those in Dennis Township many county residents and businesses, particularly on the mainland, rely on private wells for their water.

For more information on water supply, visit the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Web site at www.state.nj.us/dep/watersupply.

Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com