Turner wants prompt boil advisories
TRENTON » The capital city has apparently never been punished for issuing belated boil water advisories in the past, but Trenton Water Works could potentially face stiff penalties in the future if it continues providing customers with untimely notifications.
Following Trenton’s latest communications snafu during the Jan. 15 water crisis, State Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer/Hunterdon) is proposing legislation that would expose TWW to potential civil penalties if it fails to issue a prompt public notice on H2O-safety concerns going forward.
“The health and well-being of our residents is too important to allow another debacle to occur like the one we saw this week and in the past,” Turner said Friday in a press statement. “Consumers should be notified immediately when a boil water advisory is in effect so they can take steps to protect the public’s health.”
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day this past Monday, Trenton experienced a boil water advisory due to “elevated turbidities and inadequate disinfection of delivered water,” according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection or DEP. The city, however, failed to inform residents of the boil water advisory for a half day, meaning customers could have ingested contaminated water during that period.
TWW provides water sourced from the Delaware River to residents in the city and suburban communities in Ewing, Lawrence, Hamilton and Hopewell townships. In addition to the MLK Day blunder, the utility also delivered delayed boil water advisories to suburban customers in October 2010, which caused a large brouhaha back then.
“We can’t have notification that we need to boil water six hours after we need to boil water,” thenHamilton Councilman Dennis Pone said at a council meeting on Oct. 5, 2010, according to township meeting minutes. “That was disturbing to my family, I know, because we were drinking water and then all of the sudden we found out about it four hours later. And that can’t happen, I mean, that’s (the) essence of life is water. You can’t have that happen.”
With TWW customers raising legitimate complaints, DEP in October 2010 offered to provide “assistance in identifying and correcting any systemic, managerial or procedural problems at the Trenton Water Works,” DEP said in a press release, adding, “TWW is responsible for the treatment, delivery and testing of water, and for notification of its customers when a safety concern does arise.”
Over seven years have elapsed since the October 2010 communications mishap and Trenton Water Works is still being criticized for failing to provide all customers with immediate notification on matters affecting public health.
New Jersey Senate Democrats on Friday issued a press release saying Turner will introduce two State Senate bills on Monday to improve the notification process and protect Trenton Water Works’ customers when the water is unsafe for drinking.
Turner says the first bill would require a public water system to provide prompt public notice whenever a “boil water” notice is in effect and to issue a prompt notice whenever such advisories are lifted or rescinded.
Turner says her second bill would require a public water system to send “boil water” notices to the mayor and municipal clerk of the affected municipalities within an hour of a notice going into effect. The water system would also have to notify the mayor and municipal clerk whenever the boil water notice gets rescinded.
Other lawmakers in the New Jersey Legislature are seeking to find ways to bolster the long-term maintenance and operations of Trenton Water Works, which has been cited with at least 16 water violations from DEP since Mayor Eric Jackson assumed office in July 2014.
State Sen. Linda Greenstein and Assemblymen Wayne DeAngelo and Dan Benson (all D-Mercer/Middlesex) sent a letter to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner-designate Catherine McCabe and Board of Public Utilities President Joseph Fiordaliso on Friday requesting a meeting to discuss the growing and well-documented problems at TWW.
The city on Jan. 5 received a hand-delivered notice of violation accusing the city of failing to properly operate Trenton Water Works in accordance with state regulations. The city also failed to ensure that health and safety measures related to operations and maintenance were followed by TWW employees and agents, among a litany of other failures, according to DEP.
Republican Mayor Kelly Yaede of Hamilton and members of Hamilton Township Council have been particularly critical of Trenton’s water department in the wake of the belated Jan. 15 boil water advisory, which was lifted on Jan. 16 after DEP confirmed the water was safe to drink.
“Officials in the towns serviced by Trenton Water Works want to be partners with the utility in ensuring that customers have prompt notice of safety concerns,” Sen. Turner said in her press statement. “Additionally, the more quickly customers can be notified, the better we can protect the health of the public. I believe that these requirements will address concerns with the public utility’s delayed response.”
Under the legislation Turner is proposing, TWW or any other public water system in New Jersey that fails to abide by strict notification requirements would be in violation of New Jersey’s Safe Drinking Water Act and would be subjected to potential penalties at the discretion of DEP, including, but not limited to, civil penalties.
Turner said she has been in contact with Trenton Mayor Jackson and has offered any legislative assistance she can provide to resolve issues at Trenton Water Works.
Jackson issued a statement on Jan. 18 declaring water supplied to TWW customers “meets or exceeds federal standards.” His statement did not acknowledge TWW’s long and troubled history of problems other than to concede that TWW had “some temporary operational issues.”