Home » CORRECTION: After Trenton Water Works’ Falsified Reports, Township Renews Call For NJDEP Takeover

CORRECTION: After Trenton Water Works’ Falsified Reports, Township Renews Call For NJDEP Takeover

by Kelly Beamon

**CORRECTION: Taste and odor issues with drinking water mentioned in an earlier version of this article involve New Jersey American Water, not Trenton Water Works. The Raritan System refers to New Jersey American water. That is a completely different utility.**

Amid news that a water sample collector at Trenton Water Works (TWW) was found to be falsifying drinking water data for more than a year, Mayor Courtney Peters-Manning renews her call for the NJDEP to takeover the public utility. Although the TWW employee’s actions were discovered in 2023, the utility just sent towns a mailer about the problem in October.

Trenton Mayor W. Reed Gusciora issued his statement on the problem on December 3. Meanwhile, Hopewell Township’s drinking water has recently exceeded the Maximum Contaminant Level for disinfection byproducts (DBPs), according to the township’s Facebook page.

SINCE 2022
“Since 2022, I have been advocating for a direct operational takeover of TWW by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) due to the City of Trenton’s inadequate oversight of the water system,” said Peters-Manning in a statement, referencing 2022 cases of Legionnaire’s Disease in areas served by TWW. The mayor also characterized the actions of the now-terminated TWW employee as a “serious breach of public trust.” Peters-Manning’s call for action was joined by a similar one from Ewing Mayor Bert Steinmann.

In his statement, Mayor Gusciora said TWW has now taken steps to prevent future problems, such as installing GPS tracking devices on fleet vehicles, pairing employees with supervisors, requiring photo documentation of sample sites, using tablets with specialized software, and providing additional training. He assured the public that “at no point was the water provided unsafe to drink,” but also said the NJDEP invalidated a portion of the data collected over a 13-month period.

BYPRODUCTS
Peters-Manning said Hopewell Township appreciates steps that Trenton leadership is taking to address the byproducts issue, with plans to install a new automatic flusher in the Hopewell section of the distribution system in the next 30 days. However, the repeated problems make it clear that the current structure is not working effectively and something must change.

“The addition of DEP oversight two years ago, while short of a direct takeover, was a welcome change. However, the falsification of data, in conjunction with DBP exceedances in Hopewell Township yet again, shows that more must be done. Nothing short of a wholesale change of operational control will prevent future lapses.”

Another NJDEP report is expected in early 2025.

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