Vernon Township, NJ
Well Pump and Well Water Service in Vernon Township, New Jersey
Vernon is a large township in the northeast corner of Sussex County, up against the New York line — a resort and lake-community town as much as a rural one.
A resort and lake-community township
Vernon is a large township in the northeast corner of Sussex County, up against the New York state line, and it's a resort and lake-community town as much as a rural one. Mountain Creek Resort and the Alpine Mountain Coaster sit alongside Maple Grange Park, the Stairway to Heaven trail and Lake Glenwood, with NJ-94, NJ-23, Lake Pochung Road and County Road 628 running through it. That mix of seasonal and year-round housing is what shapes the well work here.
Getting here
Over the hill from Wantage on Lake Pochung Road, and a regular run for us. No number on it — it's a regular run, not a scheduled one.
Wells in Vernon
Vernon has a lot of lake-community and seasonal housing alongside year-round homes, and that changes the well work. Seasonal properties that get shut down and reopened are exactly what winterising a system is about — draining the plumbing, protecting the pressure tank and pump, and making sure nothing freezes in an unheated wellhouse. There are smaller, older systems on tight lots, and homes that sit unused for stretches, where water sitting in a system and a well that hasn't been run are their own thing. See our maintenance page and chlorination page.
And here's the honest, useful part: ski-season and holiday weekends are when a seasonal house discovers its well doesn't work, and a system that was drained badly in November is a January phone call. See our no-water page for the four-item triage to run first.
What we do here
The full range of well pump, tank and water treatment work — with the seasonal angle that Vernon specifically brings: winterising systems on houses that close for winter, reopening and re-commissioning wells in spring, chlorinating after a long vacancy, and the everyday pump, tank, pressure and treatment work on year-round homes.
Who regulates your well if you live here
NJDEP sets the construction rules for a well; once it's built, the local health department takes over. For Vernon, as for every Sussex County town, that's the Sussex County Office of Environmental Health — one office covering all 24 municipalities. They are at 201 Wheatsworth Road, Hamburg, NJ 07419, 973-579-0370, health@sussex.nj.us, Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. Where a local rule and the State rule overlap, the stricter of the two is followed. See our who regulates your well page.
Selling or renting a home on a well here
New Jersey's Private Well Testing Act, N.J.S.A. 58:12A-26, requires the untreated water from a private well to be tested when a property served by that well is sold, and requires landlords to test every five years and give tenants a copy of the results. Both buyer and seller must receive and review the results before closing. Uranium is a required test parameter in Sussex County; mercury is not. NJDEP estimates the average cost of the testing at $1,200 to $1,500, and says approximately 25% of the wells in the State have been tested under the Act. See our Private Well Testing Act page.
Drilling a new well and sealing an old one are a different licence — a licensed well driller — and we don't do that work.
Where we are
Straight answers
Questions we get on this one
I have a seasonal house in Vernon, how should the well be shut down for winter?
Winterising a seasonal system is its own job, and it's exactly what this kind of property needs: draining down the plumbing, protecting the pressure tank and pump, and making sure nothing freezes in an unheated wellhouse or crawl space. A system that was drained badly in November is a January phone call. See our well system maintenance page for what a proper shutdown covers.
My water didn't come back when I opened the house up, what now?
Check the breaker and the pressure gauge first — the four-item triage on our no-water page walks you through it. On a seasonal house that sat unused for months, a frozen or stuck pressure switch, a dry well that hasn't been run, or water that's been sitting in the system are all real possibilities. If the quick checks don't fix it, call us and tell us what the gauge reads.
Do you cover the lake communities?
Yes. Vernon has a lot of lake-community and seasonal housing alongside year-round homes, and we work across the township. We won't tell you how many seasonal homes there are, and we won't claim anything about water quality in Vernon specifically — but if you're on a well in a lake community here, the work is the same range we do everywhere.
Who do I call about my well in Vernon?
NJDEP regulates how a well is built; after that it's the local health department. In Sussex County that's the Sussex County Office of Environmental Health, one office for all 24 municipalities — 201 Wheatsworth Road, Hamburg, NJ 07419 · 973-579-0370 · health@sussex.nj.us · Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
Do I need a water test to rent out my Vernon house?
Yes. Under the Private Well Testing Act, landlords must test every five years and give every tenant a copy of the results. If you're renting out a seasonal or year-round house on a well in Vernon, that five-year clock applies. See our Private Well Testing Act page for the details.
The house was empty for months, should I test the water?
It's worth it. Water sitting in a system and a well that hasn't been run are their own thing, and a positive bacteria result after a long vacancy isn't unusual. A shock chlorination and a retest through a certified lab are the right sequence. See our chlorination page.