Trenton Water Works lifts boil advisory after repairs made
TRENTON >> The water is safe to drink.
That was the message city officials delivered Saturday afternoon in announcing the lifting of a boil water advisory that had been in effect for more than 24 hours.
Trenton Water Works experienced an equipment failure on Friday impacting its routine disinfection process and forcing the city to issue a boil-water advisory.
Boil advisories are issued whenever a public water system experiences problems in chlorination or water treatment. In the case of TWW, the Friday morning equipment malfunction caused chlorine levels to drop, compromising the safety of the city’s drinking water supply.
The city repaired TWW’s malfunctioning equipment in about 30 minutes Friday morning, according to Mayor Reed Gusciora, but the precautionary boil-water advisory lingered on for more than 24 hours.
In the absence of adequate chlorination from the public water system, consumers in those cases are advised to boil water to kill bacteria and other organisms present in the H2O. TWW lifted its boilwater advisory about 2 p.m. Saturday after lab test results confirmed the tap water was safe to drink without boiling it.
Trenton Water Works is a city-owned asset that provides drinking water to the capital city and parts of Ewing, Lawrence, Hamilton and Hopewell townships. The public water system in recent years has come under fire for accruing record levels of water quality violations stemming from staffing shortages and years of mismanagement.
TWW generated 13 violations last year and 11 violations in 2017, the worst performing years on record for the public water system.
Gusciora, who took office in July 2018, has vowed to improve the operations and maintenance of TWW, but the utility this year has netted at least eight violations, according to state records.
Hamilton Township political leaders from GOP Mayor Kelly Yaede to Democratic Council President Jeff Martin have been very critical of Trenton Water Works in recent years.
Yaede sent a letter to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on Friday highlighting how the boil water advisory “negatively impacted our residents and businesses.”
Martin issued the following statement on Saturday: “This week’s Trenton Water Works incident is unacceptable and Trenton Water Works needs to be held accountable. While many of the solutions will take time, one thing we can immediately address is the need for better communication to Hamilton residents. We will also demand to see a plan for how they will be investing in their aging infrastructure to ensure this never happens again. Every person should be able to have safe, clean drinking water. We (Hamilton) are TWW customers and we deserve better.”
Martin is the Democratic mayoral candidate hoping to unseat Yaede in Hamilton’s mayoral election Nov. 5.
Gusciora defended TWW on Friday, saying Trenton’s issuance of a boil-water advisory “demonstrated that the actual system works.”
Trenton Water Works over the past year has “made many system upgrades, and we continue to make improvements,” Gusciora said. “We strive to deliver a better product and from time to time these things (boil-water advisories) are going to happen. We hope to make them minimal in the future.”