The Township manages wastewater (sewage) at a Treatment Plant built in the 1930s and enlarged in 1975, 1984 and 1991.  The plant is now licensed to process 900,000 gallons of wastewater per day, and is currently operating at about 85% of that permitted limit. 

Approximately 88% of the town's residential housing units and nearly 100% of the commercial/industrial sites are connected to the sewer system.  The Master Plan (1995) discourages further expansion of the sewer treatment plant and sewer line extensions, except to reach areas of significant septic dysfunction.

The sewage treatment plant operates under Federal and State regulations for a plant located on "F3 waters".  That means the discharge has got to be clean enough that it does not harm the fish life in the Passaic River.

Did you ever think about how sewage gets over Long Hill from the north side of the town to the treatment plant in Stirling?  We pump it.  At the bottom of Skyline Drive in Millington stands a small brick building.  All the sewer lines in the Old Forge, Skyline Drive, Carlton Rd, Basking Ridge Rd, Rayburn Rd and Cross Hill Rd areas of Millington, and the Lupine Way area of Stirling flow into that building.  Inside, there is a 10,000 gallon holding tank, an emergency generator, and two 40 horsepower pumps.  Those pumps push the sewage through an 8 inch "force main" that runs under Skyline Drive up over the top of Long Hill Road.  From there, it flows downhill through larger sewer mains to the treatment plant.

This is just one of SEVEN sewage pumping stations in the Township.  There are 2 on the north side of Long Hill, and 5 more in lowlying areas along Valley Road.