Hopewell Township officials want fundamental change at Trenton Water Works (TWW) following the announcement that an employee at the water utility – who has since been fired – had falsified drinking water quality data from October 2022 to December 2023.
New violations in the township’s drinking water exceeding the maximum contaminant level for disinfection by products (DBPs) has renewed calls for change in the water utility’s management.
“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,” Mayor Courtney Peters-Manning said.
“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.”
Township officials have acknowledged that they appreciate the steps Trenton leadership has taken 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 mayor said.
“…..Another NJDEP report is expected in early 2025, and there is hope it will provide an opportunity for real change. There have been too many failures over too many years to continue to put the health and safety of TWW drinking water customers at risk.”
The TWW system provides water to more than 200,000 residents in Trenton, parts of Hopewell Township, Lawrence Township, Ewing and Hamilton. As a water utility, it treats and provides drinking water from water taken out of the Delaware River.
The containments the water utility monitors include pH, iron, disinfection byproducts, and E. Coli.
TWW has a 683-mile water distribution system and is owned by the city of Trenton. In 2022, the NJDEP had to step in and oversee the operations of TWW after the utility had failed to address issues and conditions with providing safe drinking water for customers.
TWW revealed in late November that they had violated drinking water requirements for more than a year from October 2022 to December 2023.
A TWW employee had been falsifying drinking water data, which the water utility was made aware in fall 2023. The employee was put on administrative leave and then fired. The NJDEP was informed of the investigation.
“As a result of the investigation, it was determined that a majority of the samples collected by TWW during the time period of Oct. 1, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2023, were deemed invalid,” TWW stated in its investigation. “Accordingly, TWW failed to adequately monitor or test for regulated analytes, including disinfection byproducts, E. Coli, total coliform, iron, manganese, alkalinity, pH, and orthophosphate.”
Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora in a statement in early December explained that the employee was a water sample collector and that steps have been taken to strengthen oversight over the water sampling collection process.
“While NJDEP invalidated a portion of the data collected over a 13-month period, I want to assure the public that at no point was the water provided to consumers unsafe to drink,” he said. “TWW has other valid data points to confirm water quality, and we remain fully compliant with SDWA (Safe Drinking Water Act) regulations, as confirmed by NJDEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette.”
