Verona’s Fairview Avenue well remains out of service more than five years after PFAS contamination forced its closure, and the current schedule leaves an unresolved question: can rehabilitation be completed in time for the state deadline in March 2027? The well is on Hillwood Terrace near the Hillwood Senior Apartments. Until it returns to service, Verona residents’ water comes entirely from an outside supplier.
Verona shut the well down on July 28, 2021, after a water sample taken that June 30 showed PFOA above the state drinking water limit, according to the TAPinto report by Victor Rodrigues. Per 2023 township notice cited in that reporting, Verona has been buying all of its water from the Passaic Valley Water Commission ever since, and the township has said it will keep doing so until well rehabilitation is complete. The Township of Verona's PFOA FAQ page confirms the Fairview well's location on Hillwood Terrace, on the right-hand side before the senior apartments, and states plainly that both township wells have been pulled from service while residents' water comes from Passaic Valley.
A State Deadline, but Conflicting Completion Schedules
The Department of Environmental Protection issued Verona a violation on July 21, 2021, according to the township's own FAQ page. The Verona council authorized a state DEP consent order in February 2024, and per Kevin O'Sullivan, as reported by TAPinto, the township must return the Fairview Avenue well to service by late March under that order. The state later granted what the TAPinto report describes as a force majeure extension pushing the compliance deadline to around March 22 or 25, 2027.
The completion estimates reported for the work do not match. A council-briefing account from Citizen Portal said the rehabilitation remained on schedule for completion by Dec. 26, ahead of the amended March 2027 deadline. By contrast, TAPinto reported that the contractor was scheduled to finish in January or February 2027. The available record does not resolve which estimate is current. Christine McGrath said the project had been delayed repeatedly and that the schedule was becoming tight, according to TAPinto.
Complicating matters further, the contractor has delayed equipment — specifically a couple of valves — and faces liquidated damages if it misses the completion date, per O'Sullivan's account to TAPinto. Once running, engineers designed the Fairview well to pump 500 gallons a minute into the low-pressure water system, according to a 2022 Jacobs presentation cited in the same reporting.
Money, Permits, and a Second Well Already Fixed
Verona estimated the cost to filter both of its wells at about $1 million back in 2021. The township has since closed on a loan with the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank described as $3.6 million, intended to upgrade the existing well treatment facility with technology designed to remove PFAS from the supply; TAPinto's reporting places the closing in October 2025. Verona also adopted a water rate plan in 2024 that added a PFAS remediation surcharge to resident bills starting in 2025.
Permitting hasn't been simple, either. The Verona council filed a Green Acres application in 2024 tied to the Hillwood Terrace site, after engineers warned in 2022 that a Green Acres encumbrance would delay permitting. The township has not announced final Fairview project figures as of publication, though it expected financial assistance similar to what it received for a separate project: Verona's Linn Drive well rehabilitation, completed in February 2025, drew a $2 million grant from the state infrastructure bank, with the township responsible for $262,337 of the $2,262,337 total cost, according to a 2024 township water notice referenced in TAPinto's reporting.
What Verona’s Linn Well Rehabilitation Achieved
The separate Linn well provides a completed local example: the Verona Township Water Department reported that its rehabilitation was completed in February 2025, with treatment for PFNAs and arsenic. The New Jersey Infrastructure Bank separately reported a $2,330,613 loan closing to upgrade the Linn Drive well treatment facility to address PFAS and arsenic.
Other Infrastructure Work Moving in Parallel
Separately, a contractor completed the Claridge Drive pump station, which entered service the week of Nov. 9, 2026. Crews are now checking system pressure both upstream and downstream as pressure increases in that area, and O'Sullivan expects the Claridge Drive project closeout in December 2026, per TAPinto.
On the watershed side, Verona must submit a Phase 2 watershed improvement assessment by the end of December 2026, and O'Sullivan expects a draft of that assessment during November 2026. A 2022 report from MyVeronaNJ had once estimated the Fairview well work for completion by March 2025 — a reminder of just how many times this timeline has slipped before landing on its current, tighter deadline.
Verona's public notice of its DEP consent order, posted by the township, states that the municipality is potentially subject to stipulated penalties and other applicable sanctions if it fails to complete the project in accordance with the order — a possible consequence, not a guaranteed one, should the contractor miss its mark.
