Councilwoman calls for criminal probe at Water Works
TRENTON » The capital city’s water crisis was front and center at a legislative hearing at the Statehouse on Thursday.
Perhaps the most damning testimony came from Hamilton Councilwoman Ileana Schirmer, who is a Trenton Water Works (TWW) customer.
“I have children and I have pets just like everybody else and it’s very frustrating to know that Trenton Water Works can exist the way it exists, can function the way it functions year after year with no accountability, nobody held accountable and DEP has issued fine after fine,” the frustrated Schirmer said at the State Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee hearing. “I do want to see the state be harsher on Trenton Water Works and on the individuals that have allowed the situation to continue. There needs to be accountability of people being fired or a criminal investigation needs to happen as to why individuals would allow poor quality of water to go out to residents, knowing that the water was comprised.”
Additionally, Schirmer, who was joined by council colleagues Jeffrey Martin, Richard Tighe, and Ralph Mastrangelo, said she would love to see a forensic audit of the troubled public utility.
“There has to be monies there that are being wasted or hidden or something that can be utilized to improve the water treatment system,” the Republican councilwoman said.
The legislative body possibly lacked the authority to take such drastic actions against TWW.
But it did pass four bills sponsored by Assemblymen Wayne DeAngelo and Dan Benson (both D-Mercer/ Hunterdon) to address ongoing operational and notification issues at TWW.
Over the past year, the water utility has been plagued with many problems, including water contamination, excessive lead levels, staffing shortages and discolored water, prompting boil water advisories. The city has also been blasted for its lack of notification to customers during emergencies.
TWW provides water sourced from the Delaware River to capital city residents and suburban communities in Ewing, Lawrence, Hamilton and Hopewell townships.
According to a statement from the legislators, the bills would:
• Require public water systems to notify the mayor and municipal clerk of each municipality that receives water from the public water system and the affected customers when a boil water notice is in effect in less than an hour. This notice is in addition to any other notice required by state or federal law.
• Supplement the “Water Quality Accountability Act,” which imposes certain testing, reporting, management, and infrastructure investment requirements on certain water purveyors, i.e., public water systems with more than 500 service connections.
• Amend the “Water Supply and Wastewater Operators’ Licensing Act” to permit professional engineers to take the water supply and wastewater treatment systems operator licensing examination without meeting additional experience or course requirements. The engineer will be required to have a college degree to be eligible.
• Require the owner or operator of a public water system to reimburse a residential customer at the request of the municipality in which the customer resides, for the cost of testing at the residence by a laboratory certified by the Department of Environmental Protection. The testing must be necessitated by the exceedance of a maximum contaminant level, or action level, as appropriate, of a federal or state drinking water standard by the public water system.
“We need to ensure that there is a system in place to have the best qualified professionals performing critical functions and to encourage public awareness of the operations funded by ratepayers,” DeAngelo said. “Most importantly, we need to notify residents quickly so that they can take needed action to protect their families from possible contamination.”
Benson said “families should never be concerned about water contamination or water quality.”
“If there is a problem, residents and local officials should receive prompt notifications of boil water advisories so they may take appropriate action to protect their families,” Benson said. “Water system operations must maintain the highest quality standards, anything less is unacceptable.”
Local officials all spoke in support of the legislation and offered up additional suggestions as well.
“Maybe, there’s some committee that can be formed from the recommendations of the state that gives Hopewell, Lawrence, Ewing and Hamilton a vote on how (TWW) spend their money, how they make sure they treat (the water) and the professionals that they hire,” Ewing Business Administrator Jim McManimon said. “I get hiring your local friends — we all try to do that. But you’ve got to hire personnel first that know what they’re doing. It’s obvious from the last five or six years, they have not.”
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer/Hunterdon), who is running for Trenton mayor, offered a similar proposal.
“We should have a regional stakeholders meeting of all the mayors and all council people, interested parties in the region and work on these water quality issues together,” the longtime 15th district legislator said. “It’s important that we keep this asset as a public resource. But I think that we need to treat all the municipalities in the region that are serviced by Trenton Water Works informed and on the table.”
Many local leaders said they have received calls from concerned residents about the water crisis, especially when there is a delayed boil water advisory. One pregnant woman said she drank water before becoming aware of the advisory and a father gave his 3-year-old child a bath right before a notification was issued, officials said.
“When Trenton Water Works was most recently required to notify some of our residents to boil their drinking water, the reality was that we, in Hamilton, notified our residents before the city notified its own residents,” Hamilton Mayor Kelly Yaede said. “What is particularly troubling is that even if Trenton Water Works made a timely notification, they are unable to contact their Hamilton customers – which is why our community must act during these critical times. That is why I urged additional county and municipal officials be included in required notifications, to ensure that residents receive notification as quickly as possible.”
Since Trenton is a public utility, it is given more time to notify customers of a problem than a public utility.
Assemblyman DeAngelo said private water authorities are given an hour to notify customers of issues while public agencies are granted an extended period of time.
“You can see that from the elected officials that are here in the room, the lack of communication is the biggest part of the problem,” DeAngelo said, noting his legislation will bring public utilities to the same standard as the private sector. “I’m being told and I’m reading in the paper that it’s OK to drink pink or purple water. It’s common sense no one is going to do that.”
The only true opposition to the bills came coincidentally from the one department that oversees TWW.
“We’ve made significant strides recently,” said Ray Bukowski Assistant, who is New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) assistant commissioner for compliance and enforcement. “However, we do have some reservations and it’s not about Trenton or DEP. It’s just about how we were to implement.”
Bukowski admitted that the “private industry comes a little bit quicker than public entities or government in general.”
“We know we move a little bit slower than some industries,” the DEP official acknowledged. “At the end of this, we have to implement a program. We just want to make sure we can deliver.”
Many of the problems have occurred during the tenure of Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson, who used to serve as the city’s
public works director.
Since Jackson assumed office in July 2014, the city has been hit with over 20 water violations from DEP, with 12 of them coming in 2017 — its worst year ever on record.
Trenton entered into an
agreement with DEP to get the issues fixed by June 29 or the city faces penalties. The agreement basically granted Trenton an extension to fix the staffing, operation and infrastructure problems a couple days before Jackson leaves office.
Others officials to provide testimony to the committee on Thursday were new Assemblywoman Verlina
Reynolds-Jackson (DMercer/Hunterdon), Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes, Lawrence Mayor Christopher Bobbitt and Trenton mayoral candidate Walker Worthy.
“As a consumer, the citizens of Trenton deserve and should expect clean, safe water from its government,” said Worthy, who is Mercer County’s deputy clerk. “No matter which issues the water department may face, such as an antiquated infrastructure, underfunded maintenance or the lack of skilled professionals, we must ensure the taxpayers are delivered fresh, clean water.”
No representatives from Trenton city government spoke or were present at the hearing.
The four bills will now head to the full Assembly for consideration.