NJ suburban mayors want state takeover of scandalous water utility

💧Hopewell Township's mayor said the TWW's testing failure is a breach of trust

💧Hamilton's Mayor Jeff Martin said "failure strikes again"

💧The DEP will issue a report in 2025 on Trenton Water Works, the mayors said

Hopewell's mayor is the latest to call for a state takeover of Trenton Water Works following its admission that its drinking water went untested for more than a year.

The city-run water utility said in a letter to customers two weeks ago that it became aware of the problem a year ago and that an investigation determined that the water sample collector fudged reports meant to monitor for disinfection byproducts, E. Coli and other things from October 2022 through last December. A majority of the water samples taken by the utility during that time were deemed to be invalid, it said.

Hopewell Township Mayor Courtney Peters-Manning on Monday called it a "serious breach of public trust" that she said raised serious concerns about TWW’s ability to ensure the safety of the system’s drinking water.

The Democrat said she has been calling for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to take over TWW's operations since it gained oversight of TWW in 2022 after seven cases of Legionnaire's disease were reported in communities served by the utility. Two people died from their cases.

“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 Disinfection Byproducts (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.”

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Call for takeover in 2022

Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin, also a Democrat, said TWW has made too many promises that have been broken for the city of Trenton to retain control of the utility.

"The health of too many is in the balance to trust the city can operate TWW," Martin said in a statement. "Even with the assistance of NJDEP and other professionals – failure strikes again and again."

Martin is not optimistic that a 2025 report due from the DEP will show improvement. He expects it to show more "systemic negligence" at the 223-year-old utility.

"Silence or passive statements when lives are at stake will no longer be an option," Martin said.

Trenton Water Works supplies water to 225,000 residents of Trenton, parts of Hamilton Township, Ewing Township, Lawrence Township and Hopewell Township.

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