Trenton Water Works has announced that it has detected levels of Haloacetic Acid (HAA5) above the drinking water standards.
Trenton Water services areas including in Hopewell Township: Brandon Farms, Wellington Manor, Hopewell Grant, Twin Pines, Four Seasons, Freedom Village, Hopewell Gardens, Hopewell Ridge, Capital Health Hopewell, Princeton Business Park at Hopewell, Hopewell Crossing Shopping Center Arthur Sypek School and some individual residences surrounding those areas that were tied in as the system expanded, according to Hopewell Township.
The following notice was distributed by Trenton Water Works on January 5, 2018 by way of letter dated December 26, 2017:
Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard.
Although this incident was not an emergency, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened and what we are doing to correct this situation.Â
We routinely monitor for the presence of drinking water contaminants. Testing results from November 14, 2017 show that our system exceeds the standard or maximum contaminant level (MCL), for HAA5. The standard for HAA5 is 60ug/L. It is determined by averaging all the samples collected at each sampling location for the past 12 months. The levels of HAA5 averaged at two of our system’s locations for November 14, 2017 were 62 and 62 ug/L.
What should I do?
- There is nothing you need to do. You do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions. If a situation arises where the water is no longer safe to drink, you will be notified within 24 hours.
- If you have a severely compromised immune system, have an infant, are pregnant, or are elderly, you may be at increased risk and should seek advice from your health care providers about drinking this water.
What does this mean?
This is not an emergency. If it had been an emergency, you would have been notified within 24 hours. HAA5 are five haloacetic acid compounds which form when disinfectants react with natural organic matter in the water.
Some people who drink containing haloacetic acids in excess of the MCL over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer.
What is being done?
We are conducting a more thorough and systemic flushing of the distribution system and evaluating the operation treatment components at the Water Filtration Plan to try to reduce natural organic matter prior to disinfection. We are also evaluating the potential impact that the early November low water pressure event may have had on the HAA5 formation. Based on actions taken by Trenton Water Works to address the problem, it is anticipated that it should be resolved shortly.
For more information, please contact the Water Filtration Plant Laboratory at 609-989-3379 or Trenton Water Works, 333 Cortland Street, PO Box 528, Trenton, NJ 08604.
The Delaware supplies drinking water for numerous communities. The Delaware is iced-over. There was a newly-laid oil-pipeline that burst in January, 2015, in Montana. The Yellowstone was iced-over.The spill polluted drinking water for 80,000.
Why don’t I hear this argument when PennEast is brought up? What would a slow/fast leak under ice do?
Nothing? The Delaware supplies Ewing, Trenton and Philadelphia with drinking water, to name a few places.
The mission of FERC is to do whatever congress wants it to do.
It’s not the wells of a few that are in danger, but the larger communities to the South.
Pick another agency?
Low income water for low income housing? The fact that they said in the article, multiple times, that “this it not an emergency”, and that people who drink water with higher than standard levels of HAA5 have higher risks of getting cancer both stick out as a red flags to me. People who don’t want to cause a panic often say there is no problem, we just have a small issue. Yeah, right. If it does come back that the water is unsafe to drink, then what? They never really say what will be done if the water comes back unsafe. They only say that they are flushing the system and it should come back safe. What if it does not?
you took the words right out of my mouth. so this is the so called greatest country in the world… cancer? i am so sorry. sending thoughts and prayers.
There are quite a few misnomers out there. One That I am trying to find out is: Are there multiple TWW Treatment Plants are where are they. I was told there are two plants, and I am want to know if that is so and which plants service Lawrence Twnsp.