Mayor Jackson responds to Water Works discussions
TRENTON » It’s the story that never ends.
Trenton Water Works is back in the news as politicians continue talking about the embattled utility.
City Mayor Eric Jackson received official state correspondence last week warning him that operational shortcomings at TWW potentially threatens public health in Trenton and beyond. Jackson finally responded Thursday with a self-confident missive of his own.
Jackson concedes “some temporary operational issues” have occurred at the capital city’s water utility that services Trenton and several suburban communities, but he also declares that “water quality and the public’s health was never in danger” even as the region weathered a boil water advisory this week.
In a Thursday afternoon statement issued by his office, Jackson said he wanted to “debunk the highly charged rhetoric and misinformation being circulated by individuals and news outlets with no technical background or knowledge.”
Jackson’s statement came days after area politicians and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection blasted the city over TWW’s troubled operations and maintenance, and his statement also ignored the expertise of former DEP boss Bob Martin, who wrote Jackson a letter last Friday spelling out the facts.
“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,” Martin said in his Jan. 12 letter to Jackson.
One of the major, irrefutable issues surrounding Trenton’s water department is the fact that TWW has been short-staffed for a long time and as recently as Jan. 5 was still lacking critical laborers.
“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.”
Many TWW customers this week needed to boil their water on Monday and Tuesday due to elevated turbidities and inadequate disinfection of delivered water. The city lifted the advisory Tuesday afternoon once DEP confirmed the water was safe to drink.
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 failed to ensure that health and safety measures related to operations and maintenance were followed by TWW employees and agents, according to DEP’s allegations. TWW is required to have health and safety measures in place to protect human health, safety, welfare and the environment.
From Sept. 25, 2017, until Nov. 2, 2017, a snafu at TWW rendered Trenton unable to guarantee to consumers that 95 percent of the water samples during that period were below the required turbidity levels, according to DEP. Turbidity is the cloudiness of water caused by particles and its measurement is considered the gold standard to monitoring H2O quality.
Last month, Trenton was cited for providing customers with purple water that was caused by an excess concentration of potassium permanganate, a chemical used in the standard water treatment process.
TWW also failed to develop
an adequate emergency response plan and failed to have an adequate emergency response team, according to the Jan. 5 notice of violation the city received.
DEP ordered the city to 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.
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration has been briefed about the ongoing woes at TWW, including the city’s continued failure to substantially implement a January 2014 administrative consent order that requires the city to cover its open-air reservoir by the end of this year. “TWW has failed to timely comply or make any meaningful progress toward compliance” with the consent order, Martin said in his Jan. 12 letter to Jackson, adding he has informed Catherine McCabe about the utility’s ongoing issues. McCabe is expected to be confirmed as the next DEP commissioner. “First, let me be clear,” Jackson said Thursday in his statement, “TWW has operated according to state and federal standards, supplying water to its customers that either meets or exceeds federal standards. There have been some temporary operational issues, but the water quality and the public’s health was never in danger, and we addressed each issue as we normally do, expeditiously, professionally, in concert with our high-quality contract consultants, and with the engagement of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) every step of the way.” Last summer, the City of Trenton sent out notification letters to residents because more than 10 percent of 119 samples of water tested above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s acceptable lead level of 15 parts per billion (ppb) from Jan. 1 2017, until June 30, 2017, which was a violation of the Lead & Copper Rule. Fourteen homes, including six from Trenton, four from Hamilton, three from Lawrence and one from Ewing, were above the threshold, according to information provided by DEP. The highest level tested was 106 ppb from a residence in Trenton. “For many months now,” Jackson said Thursday in his statement, “my administration has been communicating, holding meetings, and advising principals, including outgoing Commissioner Bob Martin and his staff at the NJ DEP since the agency shared its concerns with us of the need to correct staffing and other issues at the TWW. Here are the facts: First, as Mayor of the City, and in line with our resident’s direction, under no circumstances will I allow the State of New Jersey, nor any special interest groups, force us to sell or privatize our utility for personal or other political gain.” Jackson in his Thursday afternoon statement made six key points, including his revelation that the city is “contracting with a water management company with the expertise and know-how to run the water filtration plant” and that “we will continue to advise and accept input from the NJ DEP, a regulatory body of Trenton Water Works, about our comprehensive effort to modernize Trenton Water Works operations for our current base of customers and for future generations.” Republican Mayor Kelly Yaede of Hamilton, Democratic New Jersey Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo of Hamilton and members of Hamilton Township Council have each issued recent statements voicing their concerns over the problems at Trenton Water Works. With former GOP Gov. Chris Christie’s team being displaced by the new Murphy administration, Yaede on Wednesday wrote a letter to Acting DEP Commissioner Raymond Bukowski requesting he arrange a regional meeting between the elected officials who represent municipalities serviced by TWW. “I am very familiar with the concerns you have raised,” Bukowski said Thursday in his response to Yaede. “The Department has, as has been reported, taken enforcement action and is also actively engaged in communication with Trenton as they work toward short and long term solutions to address non-compliance. I and the Department are committed to assuring compliance, we are taking the matter very seriously. As for meeting, I am more than willing but please allow us some time to transition the Administration of the Department, brief incoming Commissioner McCabe and continue to work with Trenton on compliance with the effective enforcement action.” Meanwhile, GOP Hamilton Councilwoman Ileana Schirmer said she has been working behind the scenes with Assemblyman DeAngelo to address TWW’s operational shortcomings in a constructive way. “Calling for public hearings at the Statehouse is the correct move to make,” Schirmer said Tuesday in an emailed statement to The Trentonian. “It’s time for the public to know exactly what is taking place at TWW and what can be done to take corrective measures and not drag this out any longer. Individuals who have knowingly place customers at risk by failing to properly send out notification must be held accountable. Elected officials who for years have taken the lazy way out and failed to take this issue on, in turn, they also must bear responsibility.” Since Trenton Mayor 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 addition to the belated boil water advisory and H2O conservation notice that Trenton issued on Monday, the city last November asked TWW customers to minimize water usage due to operational issues at the water plant, and the city last June issued a boil water advisory over what DEP described as numerous safe drinking water violations. With the city facing a litany of criticism over the problems at Trenton Water Works, Mayor Jackson drew a proverbial red line in the sand on how he intends to bolster TWW operations as a city-owned asset. Jackson, who has reportedly undergone back surgery earlier this month and who has not officially kicked off a reelection campaign as of Thursday afternoon, used his latest public statement to make it clear he will never support selling out Trenton’s water system to appease the masses. “Finally, again, let me reaffirm,” Jackson said in his Thursday statement, “that I will not allow the sale or privatization of our utility, causing loss of revenue and employment for city residents, while at the same time ensuring that we operate TWW at its highest level.”