MORE WATER WOES
Newest violations push total to 12 since January 1, making 2018 record year for Trenton Water Works >>
TRENTON » The troubled Trenton Water Works remains in dire straits under Mayor Reed Gusciora as the city-owned utility continues to rack up violations, establishing 2018 as TWW’s most noncompliant year on record with three months remaining on the calendar.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection earlier this month slapped the city with two more water violations for distributing H2O laced with an excessive level of chronic contaminants, a recurring problem at TWW that has fueled public outrage and political backlash.
TWW, which provides drinking water to residents in Trenton and four nearby suburbs, has been cited with 12 violations since Jan. 1, surpassing the record of 11 violations from last year, according to electronic DEP records dating back to 1992.
TWW’s record-breaking noncompliance in 2018 began with former Mayor Eric Jackson and continued into the inaugural term of Gusciora, who succeeded Jackson on July 1. An excessive level of contaminants known as Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) and Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) tainted the water in the latest violations cited on Sept. 11.
New Jersey Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, a Hamilton Democrat, last week presided over a committee hearing that endorsed his signature bill that calls for TWW to be regulated in part by a 17-member Mercer Regional Water Services Commission.
“Over the last year, after closely monitoring the affairs of Trenton Water Works, it has become abundantly evident that there needs to be greater oversight of Trenton Water Works,” DeAngelo, chairman of the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee, said in a recent press statement. “While there have been some steps taken, we cannot rely on legal orders to ignite any improvements. The steady, constant hand of an oversight commission would help to depoliticize the direct management of the water system and establish a clear accountability structure.”
Gusciora has called the assemblyman’s proposal an attempted “hostile takeover” of TWW. The mayor since taking office has vowed to fix the operational and managerial problems at the city-owned utility, saying the embattled public water system would become a “fully functional and trusted Trenton-run water utility.”
Trenton posted a public notice on the capital city’s website Wednesday announcing water samples collected during the third quarter of 2018 reveal TWW was distributing water contaminated with the disinfectant byproducts TTHM and HAA5.
A minuscule presence of TTHM and HAA5 is commonly found in public water systems that use chlorine in the treatment and filtration process. Some level of contamination is legally acceptable, but it is a violation if TTHM exceeds the maximum contaminant level of 80ug/L and if HAA5 exceeds the maximum contaminant level of 60ug/L. The ug/L metric is shorthand for micrograms per liter, and the so-called maximum contaminant level is also known as MCL.
In the latest violations,
the TWW level for TTHM exceeded the maximum contaminant level at three sampling locations at 85, 87 and 91 ug/L, and the level for HAA5 exceeded the MCL at two locations at 63 ug/L, according to the city’s public notice.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says 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 MCL over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer.
Long-term consumption of contaminated water can be problematic. The city mentions the potential risks in its notice but also says: “There is nothing you need to do,” and, “This is not an emergency.”
“Although this incident was not an emergency,” the notices states, “as our customers, you have a right to know what happened and what we are doing to correct this situation.”
Mayor Gusciora has tapped former West Windsor Mayor Dr. Shing-Fu Hsueh, a retired DEP water quality expert, to lead TWW.
“Mayor Gusciora has tasked me to use all my knowledge and experience as a former water system regulator and mayor to reorganize Trenton Water Works, advance capital projects at the water filtration plant to improve water quality, and bolster regulatory compliance,” Hsueh said Wednesday in a statement. “We are moving thoughtfully and deliberately to achieve these goals, and we are making progress on multiple fronts, including filling key vacancies in the water utility’s workforce and strengthening our communications with our customers, residents and stakeholders in the communities we serve.”
Trenton this year has agreed to pay nearly $1.6 million to Detroit-based civil engineering firm Wade Trim to get qualified employees on board to right the ship of the troubled water system. The utility was operating with numerous vacancies and has a history of being cited with distributing water laced with an excessive level of disinfection byproduct contaminants.
The city has also agreed to a 12-month contract worth $755,322 with Banc3 Engineering Inc. to bring on six new staffers at TWW.
In other action, Gusciora this summer signed an updated 18-page Administrative Consent Order requiring the city to pay a staggering $13,000 civil penalty for Trenton’s failure to submit information about TWW lead service line replacements by the June 30 deadline imposed by the state.
Republican Mayor Kelly Yaede of Hamilton and members of Hamilton Township Council have been particularly critical of Trenton’s public water system after the city slowly issued a boil water advisory on Jan. 15, a date when the water became temporar- ily unsafe to drink.
Before former Republican Gov. Chris Christie left office, his administration blasted former Mayor Jackson’s ad- ministration for the ongoing problems at TWW.
“The City’s inability or un- willingness to act with the urgency the current situation requires,” former DEP commissioner Bob Martin said in a letter dated Jan. 12, “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.”
Trenton Water Works has had 57 individual violations since 1992. Twenty-three of those violations occurred under Jackson’s watch from July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2018, according to DEP’s electronic database. The city has been cited with four more violations this year since Gus- ciora took office, cementing 2018 as TWW’s worst year on record.
Trentonian staff writer Isaac Avilucea contributed to this report.