Excavation & Underground Utilities in Chatham Township, NJ
JWSR LLC is a local, licensed and insured excavation and utility contractor working in Chatham Township and across Morris County. Chatham Township sits about 30 miles south of our Hamburg yard, roughly 45 minutes out, so we can get a crew and the right machine there without a long wait.
JWSR LLC is a licensed and insured excavation and utility contractor based in Hamburg, New Jersey, about 30 miles from Chatham Township, working across Morris County. Essentially all of Chatham Township's land area sits inside a public water delivery area, shared between 2 systems, the largest being NJ American Water - Short Hills. About 73.5% of the town is inside a sewer service area, the largest run by Chatham Twp WPCP 1, and the rest is on septic. We do the underground work either situation calls for: water and sewer service lines, septic, storm drainage, excavation and restoration. Call 862-268-2510 for a free on-site estimate.
Which Chatham? There are two of them
Morris County alone has two municipalities called Chatham. They are separate governments with their own ordinances and their own permit desks, which is what matters before anybody digs. This page is Chatham Township, 30 miles south of our Hamburg yard. If that is not the one you meant:
- Chatham Borough in Morris County, the borough
Around Chatham Township, we deal with a lot of ledge rock
Chatham Township sits in the New Jersey Highlands, where the bedrock is ancient, hard gneiss and granite that often sits close to the surface. Because that rock resists erosion, digging here regularly runs into ledge, and it takes the right equipment to get through it.
We bring in the bigger machines and the tools to break out and remove ledge rock so the job keeps moving, whether it is a foundation, a utility trench, or a septic field. Rocky ground is where experience really shows. That is a big part of what we do here, but it is far from the only thing. We still handle sewer and water lines, septic, grading, driveways, and emergency digs across town.
Helpful guides: Call 811 before you dig. Every job, every time · Understanding excavation costs
Sources: New Jersey's Highlands geology (gneiss & granite bedrock) · NJ Geological Survey bedrock map of Sussex County
Morris County runs from busy suburban neighborhoods to wooded hillsides, and the work follows suit, from tight utility repairs to regrading sloped lots that will not drain.
As a township, Chatham Township has the kind of larger properties where septic systems, grading, drainage, land clearing, and long driveways come up most. Whether it is an emergency sewer or water line dig-out, a septic system, a lot that will not drain, or a new driveway, we bring our own equipment and an operator who knows the ground in this part of Morris County. We show up when we say we will, and we leave your property graded and clean.
Services for properties in Chatham Township
Septic Installation in Chatham Township
New septic systems, replacements, and repairs, permitted and done right.
Learn more →Grading & Drainage in Chatham Township
Fix standing water, regrade your lot, and protect your property from erosion.
Learn more →Land Clearing in Chatham Township
Clear brush, trees, and stumps and get your lot ready to build.
Learn more →Driveways, Roads & Lots in Chatham Township
New driveways, road repairs, and parking lot redos built on a base that lasts.
Learn more →Excavation in Chatham Township
Site prep, dig-outs, trenching, and land development for any project.
Learn more →Sewer & Water Lines in Chatham Township
Emergency sewer and water line dig-outs, repairs, and full replacements.
Sewer & Water Lines in Chatham Township →Some of what we have been building
A look at recent excavation, utility, and site work from around Morris County and northern New Jersey.
What tends to be in the ground in Chatham Township
Chatham Township has no one dominant building era. Its 4,025 housing units are spread across the decades, with the 1950s the largest single share at 19%.
The bigger issue here is the 46% built between 1940 and the early 1970s. Orangeburg pipe was rated fifty years and routinely goes oval and collapses closer to thirty, so in a township weighted this heavily toward that window it is less a question of if than which street.
Housing-age figures: US Census American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates, table B25034. Pipe service lives are documented industry figures. What is actually under any one property varies, so we confirm it on site before we quote a replacement.
Nearly all of Chatham Township is on public water
About 99.9% of Chatham Township’s land area sits inside a public water purveyor’s delivery area, shared between 2 different systems. The largest is NJ American Water - Short Hills, then South East Morris County MUA. Sewer is the other half of that, and here the two do not line up: about 73.5% of Chatham Township sits inside a mapped sewer service area against 99.9% for water, a gap of 26 points. In that gap you get houses on town water with their own septic system in the yard, which catches people out when a tank needs work in a town that feels fully built up. All of this is land area rather than houses, and a main running past a property does not mean the property is on it, since plenty kept the well after the main went in.
What replacing a water service involves, and who supplies water in every town we cover.
Source: NJDEP Purveyor Service Areas of New Jersey, edition 2025-07-03, measured against US Census municipal boundaries. NJDEP maps actual delivery areas for public community systems, meaning fifteen or more year-round connections; smaller shared and association systems are real but do not appear. Percentages are share of land area, not share of homes, and a state file can lag a change of ownership. The name on your bill beats any map, including this one.
The part that changes the job here
Chatham Township runs its own sewer utility. The Water Pollution Control plant is an activated sludge facility that treats 1 million gallons a day, and the township maintains over 30 miles of gravity sanitary sewer, over 2.6 miles of force main, and 4 wastewater pumping stations. Treated effluent is pumped through a force main directly to the Passaic River.
Not every street is sewered: the Green Village area still has homes on septic. In December 2020, NJDEP amended the sewer service area of the Chatham Township Water Pollution Control Plant (NJPDES NJ0020290) by 0.2 acres just to pick up four existing single-family homes on Green Village Road that were on septic, projected at 1,200 gallons per day of new flow.
Drinking water is New Jersey American Water, not a town utility. The township's own Natural Resources Inventory says fewer than 2% of its 4,012 housing units were on private wells as of 2010; the rest buy NJ American water. The township hosts one storage tank, a 1.42-million-gallon standpipe on Huron Drive, and has about 292 public fire hydrants, which the township pays NJ American roughly $110,000 a year to maintain.
Some of the township's water mains date to the 1930s and are actively being dug up. In March 2026, NJ American Water began replacing 1930s-era mains on Spring Street, Ferndale Road, and Wexford Road, along with the fire hydrants and utility-owned service lines on those runs, with final repaving planned for fall 2026.
Most of Chatham Township is inside a sewer service area
About 73.5% of Chatham Township’s land area falls inside a mapped sewer service area. The largest share goes to Chatham Twp WPCP 1, with 4 smaller works alongside it. A service area is where sewer is planned and permitted, not a promise that a main runs past your house, so the only way to settle it for one address is to look. Outside it, septic.
Sewer connections, laterals and septic work are all things we do, and which one you need is usually settled in one phone call. Sewer and water line work.
Source: NJDEP Sewer Service Areas, read 2026-09-08, measured against US Census municipal boundaries. Percentages are share of land area, not share of homes. Most polygons in this layer are small on-site treatment works for a single school, campground or business, so read the percentages rather than the count.
If you find water surfacing in Chatham Township, call this first
Before you call us, get the water shut off. A leaking service line washes ground out from under whatever sits above it and keeps running until somebody turns the curb valve.
In Chatham Township that is New Jersey American Water, on 1-800-272-1325.
Water is NJAW's Short Hills system, around the clock on the emergency line. The sewer is the township's own utility with its own plant, so a sewer backup is a call to the township, not to NJAW.
Once the water is off, the repair is ours. What replacing a water service involves, or what the first hour of a break looks like.
Read off New Jersey American Water's own published page and re-checked periodically. If your bill carries a different name, that name is the one with your curb key. Much of New Jersey is served by New Jersey American Water, 1-800-272-1325, 24 hours.
Working in Chatham Township
How fast can you get to Chatham Township?
Chatham Township is roughly 45 minutes from our Hamburg base, so we can usually be out for an estimate quickly, and for a sewer or water line emergency we start moving right away, day or night.
Do you install and repair septic systems in Chatham Township?
Yes. Septic installs, repairs, and failed-field excavation are some of the most common jobs we do in Morris County townships like Chatham Township. We handle the dig, the tank, and the grading, and we leave the yard clean.
Are you licensed and insured to work in Morris County?
Yes. JWSR LLC is a licensed and insured New Jersey contractor, and we work across Morris County and six other counties. We pull the permits, mark out, and do it by the book.
We also serve these towns near Chatham Township
Need excavation in Chatham Township?
Free on-site estimates and 24/7 emergency service, about 45 minutes from our Hamburg yard. Call 862-268-2510.
Call 862-268-2510