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County optimistic but uncertain on future of Hackensack Water Works historic site
Restoration work in progress at the Hackensack Water Works for the first time in years. Demitrius Balevski/NorthJersey.com
Photos of Hackensack Water Works
(Photo: Demitrius Balevski/NORTHJERSEY.C)
ORADELL— Restoration work is in progress at the historic Hackensack Water Works for the first time in years. But unlike the water that used to flow through it, the site’s long-term future is still murky.
The Oradell plant that for more than 100 years purified water for residents throughout the region has fallen into disrepair over two-plus decades, leaving Bergen County and preservationists in catch-up mode.
But county officials are optimistic that current structural repairs are just the beginning of a process to transform the 14-acre site into a recreational, educational and historical haven.
'These buildings have great potential, and this site has great potential,' said Cynthia Forster, director of the Bergen County Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs. 'I feel that it’s our job to make that potential become something that is a value to the public.'
How the county will achieve that, however, is uncertain.
The county has controlled the property since 1993, and it has been the subject of government indecision and inaction nearly the whole time. Now, the site lies dormant, with scrap metal and weeds adorning the grounds and shattered windows lining the buildings.
“We’ve got to have a clear plan, and right now I don’t think there’s a clear plan,” Forster said.
Despite the neglect, the Romanesque architecture of the pumping station, the older of the two main buildings, still conveys a sense of grandeur. Intrigued passers-by can stop to peer at the brick building's semicircular arches, gables and copper-trimmed slate roof, with two distinctive chimneys towering over it.
The water works is listed on both the state and nation registers of historic sites, and it holds promise as a park featuring walking paths and canoe launches on the Hackensack River.
“I can envision a lot of different things there that fit in with the community, that fit in with the history, that offer people opportunities and experiences,” county Parks Director Jim Koth said. “Words cannot express how unique that facility is.”
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‘Cathedral of technology’
Now the only activity at the site is courtesy of deer, birds and other wildlife, but the once-bustling plant pumped more than 60 million gallons of clean water daily in its heyday in the early 1960s.
The water works opened in 1882 and was expanded eight times before United Water, formerly the Hackensack Water Co. and now Suez, shut it in 1990.
The rapid sand filtration plant is the last of its kind intact in the country, said Maggie Harrer, acting executive director of the Water Works Conservancy, a non-profit that has fought to preserve and restore the buildings.
The Oradell facility, a rapid sand filtration system, is the last plant of its kind still intact in the United States, according to the head of the Water Works Conservancy.
The Oradell facility, a rapid sand filtration system, is the last plant of its kind still intact in the United States, according to the head of the Water Works Conservancy. (Photo: Demitrius Balevski/NORTHJERSEY.C)
“It’s the only place left in this country where water was first safe to drink,” Harrer said.
Situated on the man-made Van Buskirk Island, the site includes a pumping station and filtration plant, as well as a coagulation basin with a 12 million-gallon capacity.
When operational, the plant took in water from the Hackensack, filtered and purified it before pumping it out to customers in Bergen and Hudson counties.
The buildings still house much of the machinery that carried out that process, including the massive triple-expansion Allis-Chalmers steam engine pump that dates to the 1850s. The plant includes equipment that ran on coal, steam and electricity, laying out what Harrar calls a timeline of industrial development.
“It’s like walking into a cathedral of technology,” she said.
Getting back on track
The county awarded a $1.75 million project to Wu & Associates of Mount Laurel in May for structural stabilization, roof repairs and securing doors and windows.
After beginning work in fall, the contractor halted for the winter, said Forster, who estimated the project would restart in March and could be completed by August.
Opened in 1882, the Hackensack Water Works was pumping 60 million gallons a day at the height of its operations in the early 1960s.
Opened in 1882, the Hackensack Water Works was pumping 60 million gallons a day at the height of its operations in the early 1960s. (Photo: Demitrius Balevski/NORTHJERSEY.C)
Much of the work — funded by grants from the Bergen County Open Space Trust and the New Jersey Historic Trust Fund — originally was planned for 2011, but the county altered its schedule to stabilize the pumping station chimneys. That project, which cost $1.08 million in grant funding, took about two years and was completed in 2013, Forster said. However, momentum for restoration waned, and work didn’t resume until fall.
Next up, the county is planning to add lighting and cameras to prevent trespassing and vandalism.
“You’ve got to keep it going because with something like this, the minute you stop that’s when things start going backwards,” Forster said.
Inaction has been the default mode since the county took over the property 24 years ago and took an approach Koth described as “mothball it until someone figured out what to do with it.”
The county examined several options in the late 1990s and proposed knocking down the buildings and making the land a passive park in 2001. The New Jersey Historic Sites Council rejected that plan the following year.
Long-term goal
The plant shutdown in 1990, and Bergen County took over the 14-acre property 24 years ago.
The plant shutdown in 1990, and Bergen County took over the 14-acre property 24 years ago. (Photo: Demitrius Balevski/NORTHJERSEY.C)
The county has explored various uses for the site, most notably in studies conducted by the Rutgers Center for Urban Environmental Sustainability beginning in 2009.
Plans for the buildings consistently have included a museum, but Koth said that alone does not appear to be “financially feasible,” and the site also must incorporate “adaptive reuse” to be successful.
Other suggestions included a culinary academy and restaurant, gift shop and theater, while Koth mentioned art exhibitions and concessions.
Plans are complicated because the site is in a floodplain and parking difficult, but Koth is adamant that possibilities remain wide open and that the finished product would be a result of a public-private partnership.
“The county is not going to take on the restoration of the site solely on county tax dollars,” he said.
Koth said the county eventually will send out requests for proposals to businesses and would be receptive to creative ideas.
“I can’t tell you we’re going to hit it on the first shot, but we’re not going settle for anything,” he said. “We want to find the right fit.”
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Matthew Birchenough, Staff Writer, @MattBirchenough
| Published 6:25 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2017 | Updated 4:40 p.m. ET March 1, 2017 (Accessed November 2019) The text being discussed is available at | https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/oradell/2017/02/28/county-unsure-path-hackensack-water-works-site/97036616/ and |