Water Exec Explains Boonton Reservoir Dam Actions

In the midst of a civic frenzy over rising waters in Lake Hiawatha Sunday, news of a release of water from the Boonton Reservoir dam reached people throughout Parsippany. Rich Henning, senior vice president of the township's water provider, United Water, said that an erroneous warning disseminated caused controversy where none existed.

Henning told Patch that last Friday, Gov. Chris Christie, along with other state officials and the Department of Environmental Protection, urged all water companies in the state to release dam waters in advance of then-predicted Hurricane Irene.

According to Henning, some water was released from the Boonton dam Friday night, and then rain began to fall.

"Nobody wanted to add to potential flooding, so we stopped the release," he said. "Then Mother Nature took over, and we all know Mother Nature is a real force to be reckoned with."

Henning insists, "There were no more releases after that."

There was, however, a release warning around 5 p.m. Sunday, just as Rockaway River's waters rose.

A dam warning was issued: The alert went to the Parsippany Police Department and to local media outlets, including Patch.

Henning said this warning was automatic, appearing "when water approached roughly 6-8 inches of topping over the dam.  Then the water started receding about an hour later and [the warning] was revoked."

Patch never received a message cancelling the alert.

Earlier Wednesday, Mayor James Barberio told a somewhat skeptical group of residents affected by area flooding that the township and its Office of Emergency Management had nothing to do with any dam releases.

The mayor noted that people have to accept that record rainfall such as what Parsippany saw last weekend is to blame for the flooding that devastated areas of the town.

Henning concurred.

"Water levels did get very, very high—because of the storm," he said.