Hamilton officials speak out about Water Works
TRENTON » Customers of Trenton Water Works no longer need to boil their H2O as of Tuesday afternoon, but New Jersey Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo used the moment to express deep frustration with the city’s water utility that has been scolded as a potential threat to public health in Mercer County.
“It is simply unacceptable to put the public’s health at risk. No one in New Jersey should worry about the quality of their water coming out of their faucets,” DeAngelo (DMercer/Middlesex), said Tuesday in a press statement. “As the days continue to pass, Trenton Water Works customers are being faced with increasingly alarming alerts about contamination levels, boil water directives and conserving use. What they are not being told is how the problems will be fixed in the immediate future, and how permanent solutions will be put in place to prevent such public health risks in the future.”
DeAngelo is a resident of Hamilton Township, which is one of the suburban communities serviced by Trenton Water Works.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ordered the capital city to issue a boil water advisory on Monday due to elevated turbidities and inadequate disinfection of delivered water. A DEP spokesman Tuesday afternoon said the department has advised TWW to lift the advisory.
“Results were negative for total coliforms and indicated adequate chlorine residuals in the distribution system,” the spokesman Rob Geist said via email. “The DEP continues to monitor the situation until normal operations are resumed.”
Trenton Water Works under the Mayor Eric Jackson administration has been cited for multiple violations over the last four years, including a recent snafu that caused the utility to deliver purple water tinged with an excess concentration of potassium permanganate and excessive levels of haloacetic acids.
“The City’s inability or unwillingness to act with the urgency the current situation requires potentially puts at risk the health of the 225,000 people TWW serves in the City of Trenton and in Ewing, Hamilton, Lawrence and Hopewell townships,” former DEP boss Bob Martin said last week in a strongly worded letter to Jackson.
Since Jackson has assumed office in July 2014, the city has been hit with at least 16 water violations from DEP, with 12 of them coming in 2017 — it’s worst year ever on record. As a former Trenton public works director, Jackson used to be responsible for overseeing TWW’s operations.
In a hand-delivered notice dated Jan. 5, DEP said the city failed to comply with several state regulations over operations and maintenance of Trenton Water Works.
The city didn’t ensure that health and safety measures over operations and maintenance were followed, the DEP said.
In another key violation, “Trenton failed to properly staff TWW,” according to DEP’s notice of violation, which cites a September 2017 report that shows TWW had 68 vacancies constituting a 39 percent vacancy rate.
As of Jan. 5, TWW still had key vacancies involving the positions of chief pump operator, senior operators, regular operators, assistant operators, laboratory workers and water repair staff, according to DEP.
“As we each know,” Martin said to Jackson, “TWW’s numerous vacancies leave TWW with inadequate leadership and technical expertise, which is reflected in its inability to fulfill its purpose and legal obligation to provide a reliable and safe water supply for its consumers and critical users, including office buildings, court houses, and emergency management facilities for the local, county, State and federal governments.”
The ongoing problems at Trenton Water Works have prompted DeAngelo to express his frustration with the utility’s operations and maintenance and to also contact members of Hamilton Council.
“Even though the disjointed oversight of public water systems such as Trenton Water Works makes it incredibly difficult, I am committed to working with the members of the Hamilton Township Council on a bipartisan basis to fight for residents,” DeAngelo said Tuesday in his statement. “After communicating with Council President Anthony Carabelli, Vice President Jeff Martin and Council Members Rick Tighe, Ileana Schirmer and Ralph Mastrangelo, we are all working in the best interests of our community. We need to peel back the curtain and take a closer look at the various forms of water services to ensure that all New Jerseyans, regardless of how their water is delivered, receive drinking, bathing and cooking with the same level of healthy water.”
The recently elected Democratic trio of Hamilton Councilmen Carabelli, Martin and Tighe on Tuesday called for state, county and local officials to meet regarding continued problems at Trenton Water Works.
“Public health and safety is priority No. 1 for government,” Carabelli, the council president, said Tuesday in a press statement. “While there are no easy solutions to the problems at Trenton Water Works, it is imperative for leaders at the state, county and local level to work together and ensure these issues get solved. Our residents deserve to know the water they pay for is safe for them and their families.”
Martin, the council vice president, also weighed in with a statement.
“Safe drinking water is a basic level of service that all residents expect and should receive,” Martin said. “I thank our state, county and local leaders on being responsive to this issue and look forward continuing to work with them and new DEP Commissioner Catherine McCabe in a bipartisan way to solve this issue once and for all.”
Tighe, who was elected to town council last year in a Democratic sweep, on Tuesday issued a statement prior to the Tuesday evening Hamilton Council meeting.
“Residents and ratepayers deserve to know immediately when their water might not be safe for drinking,” Tighe said. “We need to explore legislation that will ensure residents know as soon as possible when and if their drinking water has been contaminated.”
The members of Hamilton Council were expected to speak further about TWW at Tuesday’s Hamilton Council meeting.
Republican Hamilton Mayor Kelly Yaede issued a statement last week saying she is “committed to ensuring that our residents have quality water.”
Yaede as early as May 2013 has expressed “serious concerns” regarding Trenton Water Works and expressed no confidence in the city’s ability to maintain the utility.
In a letter dated May 28, 2013, Yaede wrote a letter to then-Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno reiterating her call for the state of New Jersey, through the DEP, to “take over the management and operation of the city-operated water utility.”
Yaede in that letter provided four reasons for why she wanted a state takeover of TWW, including what she called “troubling instances of Trenton Water Works’ failure to protect its customers from a variety of public health issues.”
The Trentonian has obtained a copy of that letter as well as another letter from Yaede in which she wrote former DEP commissioner Martin in May 2013 expressing her concerns with TWW exceeding the standard levels for total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and TWW providing the public with belated notification of that issue.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, some people who drink water containing TTHM in excess of the maximum contaminant level over many years may experience problems with their liver, kidneys or central nervous system, and may have an increased risk of getting cancer.
Although DEP ordered TWW to lift the boil water advisory, Trenton is not off the hook.
Trenton must take corrective action with urgency. Among the corrective actions, the city must hire or execute an emergency contract to provide staffing of all essential positions at TWW within 30 days of Jan. 5 and within 120 days must advertise and award a contract to a firm that would be charged with the long-term operations and maintenance of Trenton Water Works for a period of no less than 10 years.
TWW’s violations are subject to penalties of up to $25,000 per day for each alleged offense, although the city may appeal or contest any of DEP’s allegations.