Trenton Water Works Receives More Violations — DEP Fails to Fix It

Trenton Water Works utility continues to get cited with new violations despite its recent embrace of emergency corrective action. On Tuesday, the DEP issued two water violations to Trenton Works for distributing H2O laced with an excessive level of chronic contaminants. Public water systems typically use chlorine as a disinfectant, but the disinfection process creates chronic contaminants as a byproduct. Some level of byproduct contamination is acceptable, but TWW this year has exceeded the maximum contaminant level for Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) and Haloacetic Acids (HAA5), according to DEP.

“Once again Trenton’s water is not healthy for people to drink. They have failed over and over to do things right and are putting people at risk. Trenton Water Works have exceeded the maximum level for Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) and Haloacetic Acids (HAA5). THM is a threat to children, pregnant women, and people with autoimmune diseases. THM is carcinogenic and can cause birth defects,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

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, and some people who drink water containing HAA5 in excess of the maximum contaminant level over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer.

“New Jersey’s drinking water also has a significant problem with a chemical called THM. Trihalomethanes (THM) is a bi-product of water treatment when we kill bacteria using chlorine. Many systems in the state have high levels of THM that are close or even exceed the federal standard. The DEP has not done enough to mitigate upstream pollution in the Delaware River. Some water systems have turned to adding ammonia to knock down THM levels but this causes another series of problems in itself. Going to ozone treatment would help because it would use less chlorine. However, we would still need to use it in old cities where water leaks into these old pipes from the groundwater,” said Tittel.

Trenton’s infrastructure water quality problem is an example of New Jersey’s ongoing water crisis. Trenton has old, outdated pipes, and lead in their drinking water. Their water treatment system keeps breaking down and the treatment doesn’t always work.

“Thanks to old and outdated infrastructure, we’re seeing chemical contamination in our drinking water and pipes that are leaking and falling apart. We have school children drinking lead in their water and old pipes that leak out sometimes 25% of the water going through them. Trenton has open-air finished reservoirs that contribute to the lead problems and they are not doing anything to enclose them. Since they are open-air, we cannot add orthophosphates to the water to prevent lead from the pipes leaching into it,” said Tittel.

The city and DEP have since reached an agreement pushing back a deadline for Trenton to rectify issues over staffing, operations and infrastructure until June 29, 2018, or two days before Mayor Jackson leaves office, for he is not seeking re-election to a second term.

“An Administrative Consent Order agreement made between the DEP and the city of Trenton is the first step towards fixing the water quality problems. They need to update their water treatment plants. If Trenton Water Works changes from a chlorine to an ozone plant, they will be able to minimize pollutants just like Passaic County did. Unless there is a long-term funding mechanism to fix the old aging infrastructure and pipes, the agreement will not fix the water problems,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Whether it’s old pipes leaking out water or contaminates like lead threatening our children, it’s for time for the DEP to act and protect our drinking water supply and infrastructure. They are putting people at risk with contaminated drinking water and need to deal with before it gets worse.”